A Second Chance, A Second War
by Sparky48
Summary: REWRITE IN PROGRESS Aizen was defeated and the Soul Society entered a period of peace. Now a new enemy threatens to destroy the world of the living. The Millenium Earl, but what is his true goal and why haven't the Royal Guard been seen for nearly a cen
1. Prolouge

**_Prologue: _**

_I made it to the Soul Society and I was in the fiftieth district for a while. Then some hollows made it past the Shinigami assigned to the district, I was consumed, in darkness._

_I fought to survive, less I become like the others, pushed back into the darkness._

_Then, one day I could see. I was in a fortress surrounded by sand under an endless night sky._

_That man stood before me and told me that he had made me an Arrancar, I followed him blindly and that led to my death._

_I was killed a third time during that war._

_The next thing I remember was seeing HER face, hovering over me calling my Arrancar name, and I remembered everything…including my sister' last words, _

"_Have a nice day."_

_..._

_We met before we joined the order, before the incident, before I was forgotten. We lived in a suburb in Japan; our parents were co-workers who often went abroad. I remember how he would smile and laugh. We were happy. Then the incident occurred._

_Our parents were talking downstairs while we played in my room. An explosion rocked the house and my world crumbled. I was returned to consciousness by my friend's scream._

_My house was in ruins, our parents reduced to a mess of bloody limbs. My neighbors had called the ambulance and we were taken to the hospital and questioned. We told the police everything._

_Well almost everything._

_To this day that still haunts me. We were the only ones who could see it, the monstrous forms and that evil white mask. But most of all I will never forget that horrible blood curling **Howl. **_

_The next time I saw my friend was nearly two years later, when I joined the Order. I was recruited because of my ability. _

_My orphanage was attacked by a monster. It was certainly different than the one that had killed my parents. For one it didn't really have any limbs minus the giant gun it was shooting. It was shouting something about innocence. It used the word Innocence as a noun not a state of being. _

_Then I heard my friends voice, he called it an Akuma and attacked it. The cries of the frightened children around me probably affected what I did next. I picked up a rock and chucked it at the monster. _

_I don't know why I did it, the bullets that the police had shot had had no effect on it so what could a small rock possibly do? Imagine my surprise when it affected the monster._

_I can't remember much after that the rest of the battle is a blur. The next coherent thing I remember was being told that I had a parasitic type of Innocence and that I was to join the Order. _

_I spent about four years in the Order, and always made an extra effort to be considered something like a friend to my friend who had forgotten me. Then I was given a mission in a familiar country, I was going back to Japan, back home._

_Along the way the finder that accompanied me was killed. Instead of waiting for another finder to contact me I sent a message to Headquarters and went on ahead. Looking back, things would have been very different had I waited for another finder, but I wanted to reach Japan quickly. _

_I reached my destination in time to meet a figure similar to the one that had haunted my dreams since I was ten. The figure that was similar to my parent's killer was attacking two children. I reacted putting myself between the children and the monster. I don' know how long we fought, but at the end the monster retreated and I was lying on the ground bleeding... then nothing. _

_A man in green greeted me when I regained consciousness. He thanked me for saving his two charges and asked if he could do anything for me. I remember saying that I was going to die. A statement, not a question. It was confirmed. I asked the man to write a few letters that I would dictate and if he could bring my uniform and glasses back to the Order and cremate my body after I died. He assented and only asked for directions saying he would go himself. I remember finishing the letters, and giving directions. Then some time later, I don' know how long, my body no longer hurt and the light in the room faded to darkness. _

_At the age of ten my parents were brutally murdered. At twelve I was recruited as an Exorcist for the Black Order. Somewhere in between I was forgotten by my oldest friend. At the age of fourteen I was killed by my parent' killer defending two children in Karakura Town, Japan._

_...  
_

_I despised Aizen. I never joined up with his gang of followers. I sent no peace offerings to him when he took over Las Noches and the kingdom of Baigon. I made no attempt to aid the war against the Shinigami. Instead of helping our brethren my people and I stayed in our lands. At his death Aizen's grand force broke into fragments and fought over the throne of Las Noches. I defeated them all and claimed the throne. I held that position for about 5 years, and then I abdicated when **he** came._

...

_A rotund figure sat triumphantly on a throne in a fortress. Before him knelt beings dressed in white with fragments of a white substance on various points of their bodies. Behind the throne stood thirteen golden eyed figures with seven cross shaped scars stretching across their foreheads. The fourteen figures had taken over the sand world of endless night._

_...  
_

_The Island of Orb has been inaccessible for nearly two hundred years. Those who were sent to investigate never came back. Only one organization knows the reason why. The Black Order knows that the Millennium Earl has taken control of the country. Just as the Millennium Earl knows that the Fourteenth will reappear. Just as Hat & Clogs knows that the world hasn't seen the last of Yutaka Rai._

_...  
_

_Nine months. Less than three hundred days. That was the amount of time it took for him to get through the Academy. Most of the divisions requested him. He turned them all down. _

_Instead he chose one that had the least amount of recruits, the one that the other students avoided. The division led by a Fuku-taicho that was called degrading names behind her back. He didn't choose it to spite all the other divisions. Nor did he choose it out of pity or insanity._

_No he chose it because of the potential others failed to see. This division had been betrayed by their captain, was spited by their comrades, and slandered by students. Yet they still moved on. They picked themselves up and fought against a man whom they had all looked up to. This single fact was enough for him to submit his application to them. The Shinigami I submitted it to was surprised. He said that their pay was lower due to their social status and asked if I was sure. I nodded. He still looked unsure but put it into the mostly empty folder reserved for signing by the Fuku-Taicho. _

_I walked out content with my choice. The next day I received my uniform and attended orientation. Towards the end the Fuku-Taicho gave a small speech of welcome to the forty or so recruits. Seeing her in person I noticed that my classmates had gotten one thing right. Hinamori Fuku-taicho was hardly intimidating. Though she did have a small aura of authority. I smiled, I had made it. _

_Yutaka Rai had joined the Gotei Thirteen._

AN: review please_  
_


	2. Return

**Chapter One: Return**

_I was fiddling with something. No I was building something. It was small and clear. It turned red. I put it on my face; it was a pair of glasses. _

_Why was I fiddling with glasses? _

_I saw something a shape. I took the glasses off._

_Nothing. _

_I put them back on, the shape was back. Weird, the glasses revealed something, but what? _

_I was walking. _

_Where was I?_

_A door appeared in front of me, I opened it. Something small collided with me._

_A figure of a person, I couldn't make out the face._

_It said something in Japanese. I could hear it but there was a strange accent. I couldn't place it. And the words confused me even more._

"_Welcome back nii-san!"_

_

* * *

_

The Winter War lasted for a single bloody year. By the end the majority of Aizen's best soldiers were either dead or missing. Of the ten Espada, three had defected to Kurosaki Ichigo's group, five had been killed, and two had gone into hiding.

Soul Society's greatest weren't exempt from the losses either. Kira Izuru was killed by a battle crazed Nnoitra Jiruga, who had somehow survived Zaraki's attack. Komamura Sajin was killed by Aizen himself, after defeating many Arrancar and Tōsen Kaname. Captain-Commander Yamamoto took Wonderwiess Margera down with himself while defending Karakura. Sasakibe Chōjirō was killed shortly after his captain was, defending the Karakura within Soul Society from Aizen. Ōmaeda Marechiyo by a nameless Arrancar towards the end of the war.

The successor to Yamamoto was unanimously decided upon to be Ukitake Jūshirō. His first priority was to rebuild the Seireitei and fill in the missing Captain and Lieutenant spots. Surprisingly these seven spots were filled relatively quickly. Before these spots were filled the Central Forty Six was reinstated. They created a law that stated that required all seated members to undergo an interrogation to confirm their loyalty to the Soul Society, in order to prevent another Aizen.

Due to the heavy losses sustained in the war a new force was created. This force was based in the Living World and served as a permanent advance force of the Soul Society while still remaining a separate element. Shinigami who wished to join this force were allowed to. Seated members who joined were required to return to the Seireitei periodically to perform their duties.

**2010, Five Years after the War**

**Senkaimon **

The Karakura Team.

It sounds like some little kids club doesn't it? That's the reaction most of our new recruits have.

You couldn't be farther from the truth.

The Team as it's called is a special force created after the Winter War. Its main function is to locate and train beings with high spirit energy in the Living World. If they don't want to fight we seal their energy away. It's in their best interest; it's either that or getting eaten by hollows. That leads to the second function of the Team: to aid the Shinigami with any Hollows in the Living World.

My job is simple: to monitor. I observe and direct Team members in the field. In an emergency I'm the one that will send out the big guns. I had to perform my duties as a forth seat in the Seireitei and also deliver a few letters. Now I'm in the Senkaimon traveling back to Karakura Town.

**Somewhere in Karakura**

Kurosaki Ichigo, hero of the Winter War, Vizard, and a Karakura Team captain, sat bored in class. It had been five years since the end of the Winter War, after Aizen's death.

He was studying medicine in the hopes of being more of a help at his family's clinic. Ishida Uryuu was in the same class, studying so he could inherit his father's hospital.

Ichigo glanced at his laptop; a bar was blinking at the bottom. It was a message from Kon.

_Yo Ichigo,_

_Karin and Yuzu are taking care of the hollow outside, don't do anything stupid._

_-Kon_

Ichigo scowled, sensing his sisters' energies growing stronger as they came closer to the hollow. As if he would run out of class for a hollow that _weak_. A few minutes later the hollow's energy disappeared all together. It was soon replaced by another, stronger reiatsu.

_Rai's back._

**Karakura Team Headquarters**

A strange smell confronted my nose when I walked into Headquarters. A smell always hung around the ground floor. It comes from Orihime's Arrancar restaurant most of the time. Or it comes from Urahara's lab which is also on the ground floor. Why they put two places prone to mild explosions on the same floor is beyond me.

I saw groups of recruits talking by the elevators. I take the stairs. I dislike recruits, and students. Every time they see me, they either stare or start badgering me with questions. They do this with every Team captain. Probably because all Team captains are Winter War survivors. Or they do it because of my …reputation.

"Yutaka-sensei!" a voice called when I reached the top of the stairs. A few recruits ran up to me.

"Could you answer a few questions for us please" the ringleader asked.

"Sure" I replied, I was used to this by now.

"Is it true that you fought the fifth Espada during the War?" asked a red haired girl.

"Is it true that you hold the record for finishing the academy in the shortest amount of time?" asked another red haired girl, identical to the first.

I nodded to both. Before they could ask any more questions Kurotsuki came and shooed them away, saying I had to take my medicine before I started hallucinating…again.

Bright screens light up my dark office. Maps of areas around the world adorn the bright screens. This room is probably the last place any normal person would find or want a person who is mentally unstable. But then again who ever said we were normal?

Kurotsuki handed me a pile of papers, "these require a captain's signature."

I sighed, more work.

I nodded to Tia Harribel as she made her way out of the dark room.

"Harribel" I called, "there's a group of students down the hallway, I'm sure they'll be overjoyed to have their training master back."

If Harribel could smile in her sealed stated I'm sure she would've. I could almost see the recruits' reactions to her return.

"_Urahara-Sensei, Urahara-Sensei! Yutaka-sama is pretty strong right?" a recruit was asking Urahara Kisuke._

"_Yes, he's also smart he was the one that figured out how to defeat Noitra, or at least prevent him from re-growing his arms," Urahara replied. "__**I'm intelligent nice."**_

_The recruits stared at him wide eyed. _

"_You think we'll ever be on his level Sensei?" Another recruit asked. None of them had noticed the dark skinned woman come in, so most of them jumped when she spoke. _

"_You'll only get stronger if you train, not stand around asking questions all day!" the blond Arrancar said._

"_Harribel -Sensei!" A recruit gasped_

"_I want all of you to run ten laps around the track!" She ordered_

"_Ten!" gasped another student. "__**They like to gasp don't they?"**_

"_Did I stutter? Get to it or it'll be another ten!" She stated calmly as if commenting on the weather._

_The recruits practically trampled each other as they fled the room before Harribel could add more laps. She was infamous for it._

I shook my head, I have work to do I couldn't stand around hallucinating. I really should take my medication now. I sat down at my station and put the stack of papers next to the mod soul plush dragon. I brought up the screen with on duty Team members and turned on the headset.

"Alright when you hear your name please respond with something halfway intelligent"

**Elsewhere in Headquarters**

"You'll only get stronger if you train, not stand around asking questions all day!" Harribel said scaring the recruits.

"Harribel -Sensei! "A recruit gasped

"I want all of you to run ten laps around the track!" She ordered.

"Ten!" Gasped another student.

"Did I stutter? Get to it or it'll be another ten! "She stated calmly as if commenting on the weather.

The recruits began a mad dash for the elevators and stairs before Harribel could add more laps. She probably would anyway, but it was a matter of principle.

**Back in Monitor Land…**

Bounce. Bounce. Bounce. Bounce.

Rai's eyes followed the bouncing ball of pink. It seemed happy.

"Haro happy! Haro happy!"

Yep definitely happy. Rai assumes that Haro is its name. It was flapping its arms each time it was airborne. It was highly amusing. It was also referring to itself in third person. Rai thought he only referred to Rai in third person.

"Sir?"

"Hmm?"

"What are you looking at?"

"The bouncing pink thing that's saying Haro happy."

"Sir."

"What?"

"Take your medication before you become irrational."

Rai shrugged grabbing the pill bottle and a water bottle, and then took the required amount of medicine. The bouncing Haro was gone.

"I was hallucinating again wasn't I?"

**Unknown Location**

A figure in green and black strode arrogantly down the dimly lit hallway. The large double doors opened to a room with stairs leading up to a throne. The green and black clad figure knelt in front of the stairs, and addressed the cloaked figure seated on the throne.

"You called my lord?"

The cloaked figure stood and walked over to a pool of water to the right of the kneeling man. It's back facing the kneeling figure.

"Tell me, when you look down on the world what do you see?"

The man in green walked over to peer into the water. A world of tall buildings and paved streets was depicted in the water.

"A world which one day we shall rule"

"A good answer, do you know what I see?"

"No my lord."

"I see a world, a world that is rotten."

**Another Unknown Location**

A man was sitting on a bench, the birds at his feet gobbling up the crumbs he tossed. He was surrounded by grass and trees. A girl was leaning on the back of the bench seemingly looking out at the lake in front of them. Her eyes were unfocused.

"So this is where you two were"

A stern looking woman walked up to them. The man stopped his crumb tossing at glanced at the woman.

"Have you come to observe the potentials like the young one?"

The girl snapped out of her daze and shot a glare at the man.

"Shut it, bird man"

"Now, now you two, don't fight."

The girl shrugged and went back to staring off into space.

"How is the boy doing?" the woman asked.

"He still hasn't remembered"

"And what about that former member? Has he showed any signs of recovering?"

"Not yet, and his grandson hasn't developed any further either"

"Have you seen anything about the fate of the first?" this was directed to the girl.

"Yes, he was killed by one of them, they seem to be targeting members" the girl replied in a distracted voice.

"He's the one I'm worried the most about" the man stated

"Why?" the woman asked

"He's, shall we say different from the other members, he's one of the only ones with a piece of the fragment and the only with multiple souls" the man explained. "If he made it to the Soul Society there's no telling if he'd still be the same, we don't even know if he'd be a singular being."

"Well there is one good thing." The girl said a thin smile on her lips.

"Oh and pray tell what is it?"

"The boy's past is affecting him, if the first made it to Soul Society in one piece, he'll probably go to the academy…."

"And the boy will either recognize him either from his life or from his death." The man finished smiling.

_An: please review_


	3. A Strong Presence

AN: Sorry about it taking so long, I had to fight a hard battle against writers block, and summer homework, with the end result being this chapter.

Rai: what you mean is that you were too lazy to actually update.

Sparky: ….Just do the disclaimer.

Rai: _(rolls eyes)_, Sparky48 does not own Bleach or D. Gray-Man, they belong to Tite Kubo and Hoshino Kastura respectively. Any oc's used in this story are Sparky's unless otherwise stated.

* * *

**Chapter Two: A Strong Presence**

_I was sitting on a bed in a white room. I could hear a murmur of quiet voices somewhere nearby. _

_A small figure was curled up in front of the door. The child was a blur; I couldn't make out any distinguishing features. All I knew was that he was crying._

_Gradually the voices from the other room became clearer._

"_He is fairly intelligent. Aside from the mysterious wounds on his ankles he's in perfect health." One man said._

"_We'll take him then." The other said._

_A man whose features were clearer than those of the sobbing child strode out of the office. The man grabbed the child and dragged him away, kicking and screaming._

_I felt anger and sadness. _

_Why? _

_Who was that child and why was he crying? _

_And who was that man with the thin mustache?_

**North America, Nevada**

Chad disliked fighting; his abuelo had taught him to be a kind person. He fought alongside Ichigo as Ichigo fought alongside him. A deal that was made before they had entered high school.

He hadn't spoken face to face with Ichigo in a while, Ichigo's school and Chad's job tended to get in the way. He played his guitar for a living, though Chad still kept in contact with Ichigo and the Team. He kept his eyes open for anything unusual and responded to any emergencies that might occur. When he ran into someone with high spiritual energy he would either bring them to a nearby base or get in contact with the team who would make sure that person would be safe.

A few days ago Arisawa had reported in that she had been seeing more and more of strange beasts that acted like hollows. Chad had yet to see one and for that he was glad, he disliked fighting.

**North America **

_I miss Tatsuki-chan _Orihime mused as she took a swig from her soda can. They kept in touch but it wasn't the same.

"What the hell did you say you emo bastard?" a shout came from outside the car.

"Are your ears malfunctioning too? Or is it only your brain?" a flat voice stated.

Orihime sighed; her two guards were fighting again. She put her soda down and opened the car door, and mentally prepared herself to break up yet another argument.

"I'll kick your ass!" another shout came.

Orihime stepped out into the parking lot where her three guards were arguing.

"Grimmjow nii-san, Ulquiorra nii-san, Ishida-san please stop fighting…you're going to attract attention." It was a true; a few heads had turned at the first shout. Orihime smiled brightly at the curious passersby, they turned away pretending they hadn't been looking.

Grimmjow grumbled and glared at Ulquiorra and Ishida but did walk away. Orihime let out a sigh of relief. Grimmjow was always like this when he got restless. Normally he and Ichigo would start fighting but Ichigo was in another country and across an ocean. Grimmjow was getting to the point where even the normally stoic Ulquiorra was getting irritated.

Something was bothering everyone, not just Grimmjow. Even Orihime couldn't shake the feeling that something bad was about to happen.

**Unknown Location**

"What the hell? What do those people think they're doing?" a loud voice broke through the cold room.

"What does it look like?" a calm feminine voice replied.

"Their in a room identical to this one watchin what appears to be that bastard king's memories" the loud voice replied.

The owner of the voice was sitting next to a pool of water. A woman stood behind him observing the events taking place.

"That boy is gonna get himself killed if he ain't careful, and can't you change the scenery? This place is cold" the loud voice complained.

"It's either this or a field of flowers" a deeper voice stated.

"Uh…never mind."

**North America, Nevada**

Chad observed the strange looking beast through the window. It lacked a hole through its chest even though it felt like a hollow. What really confused him was that normal people could _see_ it, it also appeared to hide in bodies like gigais.

Then it disappeared, exploded actually. It had been destroyed by people dressed in black and white.

Normally Chad wouldn't even spare a glance at this; after all they might be wearing a modified Shinigami uniform like Yutaka did. He was thinking that until he saw the insignia on one of the being's left shoulder. A white cross on the left shoulder.

Chad didn't know what the hollow like beasts were or why normal humans could see it a knew type of hollow? Something Aizen may have created years ago, that his followers had found and set loose?

He picked up his phone and prepared to call Team Headquarters, when he felt _it_.

A low rumble only he could hear and pressure, lots of pressure.

It was hard to breathe.

He lifted up his shirt sleeve and ripped off one of the bands there. The pressure lessened slightly.

He hadn't felt something like that for nearly five years. Had an Arrancar made it to the living world? No, it didn't feel like an Arrancar, he wasn't sure what it was only that he had to find it and _fast_.

Chad closed his eyes, visualizing the pressure into something solid. He focused on the pressure, separating the now different combined energies into separate entities, searching for the strongest, the most dangerous. He ignored the other spirit ribbons that had manifested around him.

His hand shot up gripping a ribbon, he had found it. He ran out of room and made his way down the stairs, taking off the two other bands around his arm and put them in his pocket. He would need all of his spirit energy for this.

He had focused on finding the most ominous energy, while doing that he had seen the others. There were at least three mid-Adjucas level hollow-like things in the same area.

He had sensed strong energy forming, around humans with low spirit energy.

He had reached the edge of the city when the spirit pressure sky rocketed.

**Somewhere else in North America**

"What the hell was that?" Grimmjow yelled.

"Spirit pressure what else could it possibly be?" Ulquiorra replied dryly.

Grimmjow whirled around to face Ulquiorra and would have snapped back a reply or punched him, if Uryuu hadn't stepped between them.

"This isn't going to solve any-"

"We should go" Orihime said facing the direction of the spirit energy.

"We can't risk it, the energy is getting stronger by the minute" Uryuu replied.

Orihime whirled around. "What if there are civilians there? Are we just going to let them die?" she all but yelled.

Uryuu sighed, even after five years Orihime was still like this. She had become rather protective of the humans without spirit energy after Aizen had attacked Karakura Town and put innocent humans in danger.

"We can head toward the source" Ulquiorra said quietly. "We will contact Headquarters to report this and tell them we are enroute. I believe that Yasutora is on this side of the country, it is possible that he could be close by."

Uryuu paused contemplating this. Grimmjow was fidgeting, he wanted to fight. Orihime was shifting from one foot to the other. Finally Uryuu nodded.

"We'll go but we have to call for reinforcements."

**Unknown Location**

The cloaked man chuckled darkly.

"My Lord, might I ask what is so funny?" asked the green and black figure.

The cloaked man continued to chuckle. "It seems the Millennium Earl is trying to sway Allen Walker to his side."

"Will he succeed, sir?"

"It is highly unlikely given who Walker is."

The green and black figure titled its head, confused. "I'm afraid I don't understand, sir."

"No you wouldn't, I don't think Walker knows himself."

The green and black figure tried to put the pieces together mentally. A small thought began to take shape; it was possible after all there was a certain _resemblance_. A cruel smile began to form on his face.

"Walker is related to one of our targets isn't he?"

The cruel laughter that echoed the dark throne room was answer enough.

* * *

Please review.


	4. Alma Awakens

AN: sorry for the delay School has started so I hadn't had the time to upload anything. In an answer to a question asked in the last chapter, Allen does appear briefly in this chapter.

* * *

**Chapter Three: Alma Awakens **

**Team Headquarters, Food Court**

Ramen. The sustenance of the gods. I loved the stuff.

_Slurp. Slurp._ Someone is staring at me again.

_Slurp. Slurp_. I turn around and then continue to consume the best food on earth and Soul Society.

_Slurp_. Ginta and Ururu are back from the Soul Society.

_Slurp_. They always stare at me.

_Slurp._ Maybe it's because of my ramen.

_Slurp_. I only ate twenty bowls.

_Sluuurrrp._

I heaved a contented sigh. This places' ramen is great. I thanked the cook and paid for the meal. The recruits were crowding around the elevator as always. I took the stairs again like I always do, stupid paranoia. Entering my office I waved to my co-workers, the monitors. I greeted Nel as she made her way to the exit.

I sat down in my chair, put on the headset and did roll call. A normal start to a normal day.

_Pain. Death. Rubble. Screams._

So why did I feel so apprehensive?

_A storm is coming._

**North America, Nevada**

"You idiot Kanda! What happened to your short temper!" Allen screamed as he punched said person in the head with his innocence. Kanda Yuu went flying. Wisely's control snapped with the impact.

_**It has begun**_

_**Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep**_

The computer is beeping. That's never a good sign.

_**Large source of unidentified reiastu detected!**_

"Ah shit"

_**A monster has come**_

"Stop Alma Karma! At this rate he'll turn into an _**Akuma!**_!"

_**Stronger than before**_

"These readings are off the charts!" someone shouted.

The spirit energy was skyrocketing. It was already at a mid-numeros level and continuing climbing.

_**The Earl's new weapon**_

"That can't be!" Allen's cry was cut off by a bright light and an explosion.

_**Affecting those connected to it**_

"Sir! High energy readings are appearing all over the world!" one monitor cried.

"What are their locations and do we have anyone near the areas?" I yelled back.

_What the hell is going on?_

_**He was unable to let go**_

"I finally understand why you betrayed me" Alma said walking towards Kanda, his light hair turning dark.

"I hated you for only destroying me."

"It's because you survived, it's because of you that those humans didn't repent. It's because of you that I became an Akuma."

Kanda replied "then I'll destroy you."

_**Their warriors aren't ready to face this**_

"Have we confirmed what type of beings are releasing this energy?" someone asked.

Silence,

_Unknown, but it appears to be closest to a hollow, but not a Vizard or Arrancar._

I flinched; my medicine must be wearing off.

"Unknown, but it appears to be closest to a hollow, but not a Vizard or Arrancar" reported Yuki-san.

I couldn't waste time wondering how I hallucinated what the Arrancar was going to say. I had to get a readout on the possible strength's of the energy. Hopefully no civilians are near them.

Hopefully

_**A monster has come**_

Chad was racing across the desert. The pressure was stifling. It was up there with the fifth Espada's energy level, and still going. Chad pushed his energy into his legs, and sped up. He could hear minor explosions coinciding with fluctuating spirit pressure.

He was getting closer, just a few more minutes and he'd reach his destination.

_**He is too strong**_

"Sir! Yasutora Sado is near the one with the strongest output!" a monitor cried, "It looks like he's moving to intercept them".

I punched in his number and raised Sado on the headset.

"Sado, can you hear me?"

"Yes"

"Listen; be careful we haven't been able to get a good reading on the strength of the reiatsu. We have no idea what it is, all we know is that it's a very high level Arrancar. Hell, it could be Stark, he's managed to avoid us for a while now, and he may have finally gotten tired of running."

"I don't think it's Stark, he didn't seem to be the one to start a battle, similar to the Eighth Division Captain. Don't worry I'll proceed with caution when I get there."

I snorted.

"Yeah, right you'll probably just bust through a wall"

"Don't _worry_, I'll be careful."

He hung up.

_Pain. Death. Rubble. Screams._

Worry? _Worry_? I'm way past worry at this point. I past worry on the road to breakdown about five minutes ago. I'm a minute away from all out panic.

_**You are right to panic**_

Alma began his attack with an energy blast which Kanda blocked. Alma dodged Kanda's retaliatory downward slash.

"What was it like to be the only one to survive Yuu?" Alma questioned.

**About Twenty Five Minutes Away**

"I just contacted Yuki, he says no one really knows what's going on or who is releasing the energy." Ishida called out.

"Well what do you know?" Grimmjow growled.

"The energy is at the fifth Espada's level…for the moment" Ishida said.

"What do you mean for the moment?" Ulquiorra asked calmly, ignoring Grimmjow's shouts.

"It keeps rising."

_**It won't stop, not yet **_

"Very interesting" the cloaked figure stated. He was once again standing in front of the pool of water. Observing the events occurring below him.

"What is my lord?" the figure in green asked from behind the cloaked figure. He peered into the water.

That's a..."

**Monitors**

The printer finally spat out the readout paper. Its about damn ti-

I dropped the readout sheet.

"Sir?" A monitor questioned concerned.

"Send out an alert! I wanted all Team captains here yesterday! "I shouted, I never shout. Unless I'm having an episode but then it's more of a scream. And I think I'd rather have that than this.

"What should we tell them sir? "He asked me, he sounded scared.

There is no time for regret. There isn't any time at all. Someone had to reinforce Sado. We had to at least to prepare for the worst.

"Tell them a Vasto Lorde has appeared."

_**So it begins**_


	5. El Directo

An: I want to thank Jman12394 for writing the last scene in this chapter and for Beta reading my story.

Refer to Chapter 2: A Strong Presence for disclaimer. Thank you.

* * *

**Chapter Four:** **El Directo**

_I was fighting someone. No, I was sparring. Someone was cheering behind me, I couldn't discern the words. It was as if there was a filter blurring everything: sound, sight everything. _

_My opponent lunged, I blocked. I had a boken, a wooden sword. So did he. At least I think it was a he. It was hard to tell, the whole filter thing._

_I don't know how long we sparred; I could feel my muscles beginning to ache. I saw my opponent stop and raise his right hand, his sword hand. What happened to his sword? His hand looked like a claw, he was pointing it at me a red glow emitting from two fingers. _

_The person who had been cheering was gone, replaced by what I think was a crater. The red light was getting larger. There was rubble all around me._

_Then nothing, just darkness._

_I heard something, it was faint but it was there, a voice. _

_"Don't you dare die."_

_I felt regretful. Why?_

_"I'm sorry"_

_Why?_

**Unknown Location**

"My lord, is that Vasto Lorde there on orders?"

"No, it appears that he has just now reached that level."

"Should we help?"

"No let us see how the..._pests _react."

**Team HQ, Meeting Room**

"Why are we all sitting here arguing we should be going to help Chad?" Ichigo shouted.

I looked at him as did everyone else.

"Care to enlighten us on how you're going to get to America, and still be in time to help Sado?" I asked.

Everyone glared at me, or looked at me like I was stupid. I ignored them, it was a sound question. One which Ichigo didn't answer. That didn't stop the glaring though.

"Look" I started," if we opened the Senkaimon to Soul Society, then from there went through another Senkaimon to America, we still wouldn't be able to do much. These are two high reiatsu beings fighting. If we intervene we'll probably end up distracting Sado and against a Vasto Lorde that would only end in death."

Ichigo clenched his fists. "Dammit we have to something!"

"Sir?" someone asked.

I turned, it was Yuki.

"What is it?"

"Sir, a few minutes ago I was contacted by Ishida Uryu. He, Grimmjow Jeagerjaques, Ulquiorra Cifer, and Inoue Orihime are about ten minutes away from the location. Why not send them?"

"That's..." Ichigo began.

"A very good idea" I interrupted.

"What? Are you trying to get Orihime killed?" Ichigo all but shouted at me. Most of the others looked like they agreed.

"Orihime is a Team captain just like us" I pointed out. "Further more, unless Sado is consumed by the Vasto Lorde he will most likely require first aid. Who better than Orihime?"

Silence, they seemed to consider it. I decided to add one more point.

"Orihime is guarded by a Quincy, the Sixth, _and _the Fourth Espada, if they can't protect her than who can?"

After a few moments of silence, Ichigo finally nodded. Yuki left to inform Orihime of the orders.

Now all we had to do was contact Soul Society and wait for word from Sado so the chance of a trap would lessen if only a little.

**Soul Society, Meeting Room**

"A Vasto Lorde has appeared in the Living World?" Lieutenant Abarai shouted.

"Renji please calm down" Lieutenant Hinamori said.

"Have we received a report from the Team yet?" Captain Hitsugaya asked above the noise in the room.

All captains and lieutenants had been called together for an emergency meeting. Arguments broke out the second the news of the Vasto Lorde was delivered.

"Unfortunately not..." Captain-Commader Ukitake started to say but was interrupted by a Shinigami bursting into the room. He placed the large disk he was carrying on the floor and bowed out of the room. An image of a teenager with spiky black hair flickered to life above the disk. He wore the shirt that all Shinigami wore but had a long sleeved red shirt under it. His pants were not as baggy as the hakama were and were tucked into his combat boots. The hologram bowed.

"Yutaka Rai, fourth seat of the fifth division, monitor captain of the Karakura Team, reporting"

"It's about damn time" muttered Captain Zaraki.

"What news do you have Yutaka?" Captain-Commander Ukitake inquired.

"The Vasto Lorde appeared at twelve hundred hours, in the American state of Nevada."

"We already know that! Can't you give us anything more interesting?" Captain Kurotsuchi interrupted. "Like why it took you so long to identify the threat?"

The hologram's eyes narrowed behind its red glasses but continued.

"Yasutora Sado is on his way to intercept it. Spirit Pressures of varying strengths are in the area. As such we are sending the closest Team members to reinforce him. The area that the Vasto Lorde is in has always caused interference with our sensors. Its appearance did nothing to help the situation. This is why we had difficulty identifying the energy. If you decide to send reinforcements they may end up too far away to actually help in time. I would suggest for you to remain on standby…."

"That's preposterous, we are the Gotei thirteen it's our job to protect the living world." Captain Soifon replied angrily.

"Furthermore why would we leave the situation to someone who can barely tell the difference between hallucinations and reality?" Captain Kurotsuchi broke in.

The hologram narrowed gaze switched to a full blown glare. Before the argument could go further Captain- Commander Ukitake asked.

"Who are the reinforcements?"

"Captains, Inoue Orihime and Ishida Uryuu. Along with Orihime-san's guards Ulquiorra Cifer, and Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez."

**North America, Nevada**

Alma Karma jumped from rock to rock. He clenched his fists and yelled at Kanda "die!"

Alma threw himself at Kanda with one hand poised to take off his head; Kanda deftly interposed his blade and turned his block into a cut towards Alma's eyes. Alma dropped to the ground and slashed Kanda with his barbed tail. Kanda jumped back grabbing a nearby rock and using it to get some distance between them.

Alma jumped foreword and slammed the rock with his right fist, slamming Mugen away from Kanda, disarming him.

"Shit," Kanda cursed, looking for Mugen without taking his eyes off of Alma. Alma steadied his balance and jumped at Kanda with his left fist extended.

Kanda grabbed Alma's fist with both hands and slammed down on his back throwing Alma over his head, as Alma's tail whipped down and cut a mark from the bottom of his right cheek up to his forehead. Alma arced and slammed into one of the few walls that remained surrounding the lab.

Alma suddenly felt a surge of energy from the other side of the wall. He thought to himself "Wha…"

"El Directo," The wall exploded with Alma right on top of it. Out of this new hole a giant of a man stepped out with a glowing blue, black and purple arm.

"Need a hand?" he asked.

* * *

An: Please Review.


	6. Reject

**An:** Again many thanks to Jman12394 for betaing (is that even a word? If it isn't it is now) this story.

I know that I refer to Alma Karma as a _he_ that is because when these chapters were written in the manga he looked like a guy. Now according to these past few manga chapters his soul is that of the girl Kanda is looking for….so what does that make Alma? I'm going to go with an _it _because anything else will probably make my brain hurt_._ –End rant-.

Refer to Chapter 2: A Strong Presence for disclaimer. Thank you.

* * *

**Chapter 5: Reject**

_I was running, running so fast that the scenery was a blur. Someone was following me. It was the kid from the orphanage. I said something, the boy laughed. _

_I stopped._

_There was a person in front of me. Only, it seemed only the other boy and I could see her. There was a broken chain in the middle of her chest. _

_She was dead._

_I heard someone call my name behind me. A man with a white cloth wrapped around his shoulder walked past me._

"_Observe…..son"_

_He drew his sword and lightly tapped the soul's forehead. She disappeared in a flash of blue light._

"_That son was Konso, one day I will teach it to you and to your friend, if his parents don't teach it to him first."_

_Dad? _

**Headquarters, Monitor's Lair**

"Captain Yasutora has engaged the enemy, sir" a monitor reported.

I had returned to my station after the meeting to: one, take my medicine, and two, to ease my paranoia. I do not know Sado well, as I was fighting with the fifth division during the war. Still I did not want to lose any allies or friends.

"_**My friends are my world; losing one is like losing a part of that world."**_

I blinked wondering where that had come from; it wasn't the dark voice that I used to hear.

"What's the E.T.A of the reinforcements?"

"At least another ten minutes until they arrive, sir."

The Vasto Lorde just had to appear in America didn't it? One of the few places our sensors where our sensors go all screwy on us.

"Are you sure there isn't anyone else in the vicinity that can help Sado?"

"No sir, aside from Inoue only Arisawa is in the country and she's in New York."

_Sado just hold on for a few minutes, reinforcements are on their way._

**North America, Nevada**

"Who the hell are you?" Kanda shouted at the man.

"Yasu… sorry, Sado Yasutora" the man replied. He hadn't taken his eyes off of Alma who was digging himself out of the rubble. Sado's eyes widened, when he got a closer look at Alma.

"There's no hole…"

"What?"

Sado ignored him; instead he tapped a white, black and gold badge tied around his bicep.

"This is Yasutora Sado, the enemy wasn't fazed by my El Directo" he said in Japanese.

A voice fizzled through the communicator.

"Roger that Sado, the enemy has been identified as a Vasto Lorde."

At this point Alma had extracted himself from the remnants of the wall. He was trying to get his eyes to refocus.

"He's not a hollow"

"What?"

"He's not a hollow, I don't know what he is but he doesn't have a hole."

"Do you think you can hold him off for at least ten minutes?"

"If I went all out, yes."

"Very well Sado you are authorized to respond with any force you deem necessary, hang on until reinforcements arrive." A different voice stated.

Alma eyed the giant that had punched through the wall. His energy was very high, abnormal for a normal human true but not high. Though something did seem off about him, as if he was hiding something. He was most likely controlling his spirit energy.

Kanda was having similar thoughts. Throughout the one side of a conversation he had heard, the man had been observing Alma. Analyzing. This guy had been in many battles before.

"Oy" Alma said "who the hell are you? Why did you interrupt me?"

"I don't want to fight"

Alma raised an eyebrow, this guy had just punched through a _wall,_ and interrupted his _battle_ and he didn't want to _fight_. Who the hell did he think he was?

"Answer the damn question; I don't care if you don't want to fight, either way you will die"

Sado's right arm erupted in waves of energy, centering around his fist.

"I am Sado Yasutora, my job is to protect the living world along with the Soul Society."

"Sado huh? It won't matter, in a few minutes you'll be **DEAD**!"

Alma lunged with inhuman speed left arm pulled back and poised to hit Sado's face. Sado dodged to the right, letting Alma pass by him. Alma pushed off the ground with his left foot and twisted in midair to strike Sado's head with his left leg. Chad grabbed Alma's leg and threw him. Alma flipped and turned landing in a crouch.

_This guy's good _Alma thought. _He responded to my attack speed with the same. How? No human should be able to keep up with it! And then there's his arm, what's with that energy? Who cares? I'll just kill him and then I can kill Yuu!_

Alma stood up from his crouch. Sado immediately settled into a stance right arm in front to block and left arm to attack. Instead of darting forward like he had before Alma merely breathed in deeply, his spine curving backwards. Then he leaned forward letting out a speeding ball of energy from his mouth.

Sado's eyes widened when he saw the energy ball. _Bala?_ He only had seconds to react.

The ground exploded when the energy ball hit it resulting in a dust cloud.

"Ha-ha the guys dead" Alma said jubilantly "now I can kill Yuu!"

"Brazo Derecha de Gigante" came from within the settling cloud.

Sado stood with a few cuts by the crater where he had been before. His left arm now appeared to be some sort of shield, and his legs were incased by black, white and red armor with a spike pointing out from the knee.

**Same Time, different battlefield in North America, Nevada**

The entrance of Sado had surprised and stopped everyone in their tracks. Allen had attempted to use that momentary distraction to attack Tyki Mikk. Tyki had reacted quickly though, which was why Allen was currently on the ground with Wisely and Tyki sitting on his back, using him as a chair.

"We already told you boy we aren't going to leave without you, you are the Fourteenth" Tyki said.

"I AM NOT THE FOURTEENTH!"

"Yes you are" the Road doll said, sitting in front of Allen.

"I'M NOT!"

"Give it up Road he's in denial" Tyki said, turning to look at the Earl he asked "Earl, what do you think of that man fighting Alma, what's with his arm? Is it Innocence?"

"No, it's something called reiatsu."

Tyki face dropped, irritated.

"And what's reiatsu?"

"Something that has similar effects as those of Innocence, but if utilized correctly can be more destructive then Innocence" the Earl paused and then said "Get ready to leave; we need to get out of here before he receives assistance."

'Assistance from whom?"

"The Soul Society."

"oookkaayy?"

**Karakura Headquarters**

"Are you ready?" I asked.

Orihime's group voiced their affirmatives.

"All right, you are authorized to use any force necessary, try to keep the damage to a minimum" the last part I directed toward Grimmjow.

"Don't worry schitzo, we'll get Chad outta there and beat the crap outta tha enemy" Grimmjow said. I twitched I hated people when people called me nicknames. And I'm not schizophrenic; I just hear voices and hallucinate from time to time.

"Just get going, you're wasting time."

"Right."

The transmission ended as the team made its way to aid Sado.

**Nevada**

Alma slammed his foot down on Sado's arm forcing him to his knees. Alma's attacks had increased in ferocity, power and speed. Sado had barely activated his legs and arm shield in time to avoid the Bala like attack. He had to avoid several of those in the past five minutes and a few Cero level attacks. The one that he had been lucky to mostly dodge was the Gran Rey Cero level attack.

Sado was breathing heavily, and was bleeding heavily from several places. His ribs were most likely broken. He had one chance. A liquid encased his left arm and solidified.

"Brazo Izquierda del Diablo"

**Headquarters**

"Sir! Captain Yasutora's reiatsu is rising!"

**Nevada**

Alma jumped into the air and fired up two energy spheres in his hands. He fired both at Sado. Sado appeared above Alma, right hand slamming down into Alma's stomach, knocking the wind out of him and sending him speeding to the ground. The impact was hard enough for a deep crater to form on the ground.

**Headquarters**

"He used…"

**Nevada**

"La Muerte"

The crater that Alma's impact had caused had an odd shape. It was the image of a demon skull.

Sado landed heavily on the ground. The attack had used up most of his remaining energy. He had used a lot of it avoiding and blocking Alma's attacks.

Laughter and coughing came from the crater. Alma leapt out from the crater. Blood dripped from his chin, and the quickly disappearing wound on his stomach.

_Instant regeneration_ Sado observed. _So this is the power of a Vasto Lorde, any damage my attacks cause just disappear._

"You really thought an attack like that would kill me?"

Sado's arm badge vibrated.

"Sado, reinforcements will arrive momentarily, just hold on!"

Alma gathered energy in his palm. Sado's eyes widened, it was energy equivalent to Ulquiorra's Cero Oscuras. There was no way he would be able to dodge it.

"Goodbye"

The world was engulfed in light.

"Santen Kesshun, I REGECT!"

_An: Please Review_


	7. Recovery

AN: Hello everyone! Thanks to Jman12394 for beta reading this chapter. Also please review, reviews make me happy and tell me someone actually reads this story and directly affects the rate at which I update. Thank you, that is all.

* * *

**Chapter Six: Recovery**

_Central forty six was reinstated four years ago. The members were chosen from the higher ranking families within the soul society. I met them once. They were all a bunch of snobs. They sought only to better themselves. _

_A law: All seated members above tenth seat power level must be interrogated to determine loyalty. _

_It was written to prevent traitors like Aizen, Tousen and Gin._

_It never crossed my mind to mention the strange tattoo on my chest, a single red ring._

_In the same spot that many hollows had their hole._

**Nevada**

When the light from the Cero faded, all the observers of the battle could do was stare. A triangular orange shield was floating in front of Sado, having protected him completely from the attack.

"What the hell!" Alma and Wisely screeched.

"That attack should have destroyed him!" Alma continued, "there's no way he could've survived that!"

"Cero Oscuras"

A beam of black energy hit Alma straight in the chest, pushing him into a pile of rubble. Alma staggered to his feet a few minutes later, body already regenerating, though much slower than it did with El Directo.

"Who the hell are you?" he yelled into the sky.

Four figures descended from a door way in the sky. A blacked winged figure dropped an orange haired woman on the ground next to Sado.

"Are you alright Sado?" She asked in Japanese.

"Stop ignoring me!" Alma yelled running toward the orange haired woman.

Two fists slammed into Alma's stomach, stopping him in his tracks. He lifted his head to get a look at his attackers when an arrow to his head stopped him. His head erupted in blood.

"Is he dead?" Tyki asked.

Alma staggered to his feet again, dazed with blood leaking from the wound on his face.

"Guess not"

"We're leaving" the Earl said.

"What? Alma Karma could kick their asses!" Wisely said.

"We have the Fourteenth, and there is a chance that those four could defeat Alma."

"I AM NOT THE _FOURTEENTH_!"

"Keep telling yourself that kid"

"SHUT UP!"

"Alma Karma! We're leaving, you'll get another chance to kill your friend" the Earl yelled.

Alma grumbled but nodded appearing by the Earl's side.

Tyki tied the struggling Allen's hands behind his back. Slinging Allen over his shoulder Tyki followed the Earl toward the Ark, or at least he tried to.

He had to duck the sword swipe at his head narrowly avoiding decapitation. Kanda had circled around while everyone was distracted by the appearance of the four strangers.

"Well well, isn't this nostalgic? You don't look so good maybe you should sit down!"

Tyki directed the Tease slamming Kanda into a pile rubble, where he lay unconscious.

Tyki turned back to rejoin the Earl and the other Noah. But found himself suddenly on his back with a broken and bloody nose. Allen skidded to halt a few feet away. The one who had punched Tyki grabbed Tyki's collar and threw him into a pile of rubble, resulting in yet _more _rubble.

"You okay kid?"

Allen jumped the blue haired guy that had just punched and thrown a Noah was now crouching in front of him.

"I'll kill you!"

The blue haired man didn't even turn. Instead Tyki's declaration was met with an arrow made of energy to the shoulder, a few inches above his heart. Tyki crumpled.

"Tyki!"

Tyki's body was lifted toward the rest of the Noah. Once he reached them Wisely slung his arm under Tyki's, supporting him.

"Gran Rey Cero!"

The cero hit just as the last Noah entered the Ark. A slew of curses erupted from the blue haired man's mouth.

"Who are you?" Allen asked as his bonds were released.

"Uryuu Ishida" the man with glasses said, with an accent. "The man with the tail and blue hair is Grimmjow Jeagerjaques the former Sixth Espada, the one with wings is Ulquiorra Schiffer the former fourth Espada and the woman is Orihime Inoue."

"Thanks for helping us"

"It's fine"

"No it isn't! I came here expectin a fight!" Grimmjow shouted." And instead those guys turned tail and ran!"

Uryuu sighed in irritation. While they argued Allen had gotten up and walked over to Kanda to try and wake him up.

"Kanda? Come on Kanda wake up!"

Allen struggled to push the rubble off of his comrade but failed.

The blue haired man walked over and simply kicked the rubble off.

"He doesn't look too good" Allen said.

"Oy Woman! Get over here!" Grimmjow yelled.

Grimmjow was suddenly lifted in the air by the black haired man with what appeared to be half a helmet framing his head. The man was glaring at Grimmjow.

"Ulquiorra nii-san please put Grimmjow down" the orange haired woman had come over still speaking Japanese. With one look at Kanda she turned to Uryuu, and said something else in Japanese.

"What did she say?" Allen asked.

"She wants us to gather the injured and bring them to where Sado is" Uryuu responded.

"Oy! Bean sprout what the hell just happened?"

"It's Allen stupid Lavi!" Allen responded on instinct, and then stopped. "Eh? Lavi when did you get here?"

"I'm on the headset, idiot"

"Oh"

"So what happened those third exorcists just started to freak out and tried to kill us, then they just disappeared."

"…"

"Bean sprout, come on tell me what's going on?"

"It's hard to explain, the North American HQ has been reduced to rubble, we have a lot of injured including Kanda." The last part Allen had added as an afterthought. He and the blue haired manand picked up Kanda to move him over to the giant named Sado or was it Chad?

Lavi of course jumped to a conclusion "Yuu got his ass kicked?"

**After a long argument and explanation…**

The assembled leaders of the various parts of the Black Order had finally come to two decisions: One, all exorcists would be ordered to return immediately to the London Headquarters; and two, the four people with strange abilities would be taken in immiediatly for questioning.

In the past the exorcists would have to drag the person or persons back to HQ but now with the ark apprehension would go smoothly. After all they needed to do was get them in the ark with Allen Walker.

**Team Headquarters**

"Sir, the Vasto Lorde has disappeared, along with most of the strong reiatsu."

"Have we gotten word from the team we sent there?" I asked.

"Captain Ishida contacted us a minute ago, Captain Yasutora is injured but alive, and they are currently gathering the injured so Captain Inoue can heal them… What the? Sir you better come and take a look at this."

I jogged over to the monitor. People with reiatsu were disappearing and reappearing out of nowhere. But that wasn't the weirdest part.

Our sensors were built to analyze the spirit ribbons. The colors on screen were the colors of the ribbons. Ones who had Shinigami abilities had red ribbons so they appeared in red on the screen. For the two Quincies it was blue. Black represented Arrancar and green for the ones we couldn't identify.

Though their teleportation was surprising, it wasn't what that caught my attention. It was the _color_ that they were depicted as on the screen.

They were _blue_.

_An: please review._


	8. Preparations

**Chapter 7: Preparations**

_Strange, that's all I could describe it as. The monster was strange. I held a blade in my hand, I attacked. I killed the monster. It exploded._

_The blade shattered, leaving only dust._

_Something lunged at me with a sword. I blocked. Where had the sword come from?_

_I was laughing. _

_Why?_

_Am I dreaming?_

_I don't know anymore…_

**Team Headquarters**

"What do you mean you can't reach them?"

"That's just it we've tried to raise them on the communicators but they haven't responded!"

"Hang on I'll be there in a minute."

_Damn_. It's only been a day since the appearance of the Vasto Lorde. We have no idea why the humans who were in the area have blue spirit ribbons. We haven't even figured out why the Vasto Lorde lacked a hollow hole or even a fractured mask.

And to make matters even worse a few hours ago the team that responded there just up and disappeared! We've tried contacting them multiple times. All we do know is that they moved from America to England in the span of only a few minutes. Then they just vanished. Fortunately the badges aside from being a means of contact and identification have a device that tells us if the wearer is still among the living.

Wherever the team is they better contact us soon. Otherwise I will assume they have been captured and respond accordingly. I'll also make sure Kurosaki is among the rescue team. Team rules. _No one_ messes with Team members.

**England, Exorcist Headquarters**

"So you were the one who completely restored the American branch Headquarters?" Levverier asked.

Orihime nodded.

"That's an amazing ability, even greater than Lotto's."

Levverier motioned to Link. "Bring her, the one in glasses and the big one to Hevlaska, check their synchro rate. They will be very useful."

"Oy where are you taking her!" Grimmjow leapt to his feet.

"Don't worry we're just going to check something."

"If you hurt my sister, I'll kill you, human trash."

Levverier turned and glared at the black haired, pale man. He shrugged and followed Link, but stopped at the doorway.

"Komui, take those …_things_ down to research I want to know exactly what they are."

"Aah."

"Wait!" Orihime's voice cried from the hallway.

"What is it?" Leverier asked.

"Please give us back our badges, they're really important." Orihime requested.

"No, I don't know what you're association with those things is but until we know for sure you will have no contact with the outside world." Leverier said.

"You fool!" Uyuu shouted. "We have to contact our friends otherwise they'll destroy this building looking for us!"

"Oh?" Leverier asked, intrigued. "And why would they do that?"

_Damn it! I can't tell them about Orihime's true ability; it could make the situation go from bad to worse! _Uryuu thought._ But if we don't, Yutaka will probably dispatch Ichigo, and that would not end well. He has a habit of attacking first, then asking questions._

"It's because of me."

"Orihime?" Uryuu asked.

"You? What do you have to do with it? "Leverier interjected

"My ability isn't to heal" Orihime said, "It's to _reject_"

Leverier stopped walking and stared at her as did everyone else.

"Santen Ketsuhun rejects beyond the shield, and Soten Kishun rejects behind the shield."

"Someone once kidnapped her because of her ability; the ones responsible are now dead. If you want to make the same mistake that they made, then don't let us contact our friends, but do _not _blame us when this place is attacked and destroyed."

"Mr. Leverier, if I may make a suggestion?" Komui asked having come over to see what was happening with the two Espada behind him.

"What is it?"

"Allow them to contact their friends and talk to them, explain what is going on, it never hurt to be safe."

"Very well."

**Team Headquarters**

Still no word from the team we sent. We've been trying to get in contact with them for the past five hours. It's one in the morning, everyone's tired.

For once I didn't argue with Yuki when it was time to take my medicine, I was too worn out.

I started suddenly. My badge was buzzing; I was a Team captain my badge rarely buzzed...unless….un less someone was calling me specifically. I tapped my badge, those who saw me do it looked up, hope in their eyes.

"Hello?"

**London, Exorcist Headquarters**

"Rai!"

"Eh, Inoue? Is everything all right? How is Sado, and when did you learn English?"

**Elsewhere**

"Why didn't you let my people intervene my lord?" the captain asked.

"If I had, then _those_ people would have their proof and would mobilize"

"We've been trimming down their force for over two decades, how many could possibly be left?"

"With these people, it's hard to tell, all beings have the potential to join their ranks…even you. That reminds me" the Demon Lord said," my faithful servant has informed of your…failure."

"M-my lord?" the captain stuttered.

"You failed to fulfill your mission, you left one alive." The Demon Lord thundered rising from his throne to tower over the cowering captain.

"M-my lord I-I managed to blind him, he won't be able to—"

"I do not care what he can or cannot do!" The Demon Lord roared. "By leaving one alive you have jeopardized our entire operation!"

"M-m-my l-lord, I will take my best men and leave at once to—"he was cut off by blade ripping through his chest. He gurgled slightly and slid to the floor, dead. The green and black figure cleaned his blade on the man's cloak and stepped over the corpse.

"Thank you for taking care of the trash"

"Anytime my lord, I've wanted to do that for a while now."

"If you truly wanted to kill something you could have joined them, then you wouldn't need an excuse to kill my soldiers, they would be your enemies."

"I would never join their ranks it was you, not they who saved my life. I am eager to prove my worth to you, my lord."

"Your time will come; let us first see if Devas succeeds. Should he fail you know what to do."

"Yes, your highness."

**Team Headquarters**

"So they took you through something similar to a Senkaimon and now you're in London?"

"Yes"

"Kurosaki is gonna kill me" I groaned rubbing the back of my head.

A red light began to blink on my desk and a monitor came over to me and whispered, "Incoming message from Soul Society".

"I'm kind of busy at the moment; tell them to hold on for a few minutes." The monitor nodded and left.

"Sorry message from the Gotei 13, you were saying?"

"They won't let us leave because of our reiatsu, don't let Kurosaki anywhere near Europe."

"Eh? Uryuu when did you get there?"

"I've been here the whole time!"

"Really?"

"That's quite enough, you're friends are safe and that's all that matters—"a voice interrupted, cutting off the transmission.

"Well he seemed pleasant" Yuki commented from his post. He walked over to stand in front of me.

_A man with a thin moustache dragging a young boy out of an orphanage. _

"Sir?"

_Five cloaked men sitting on thrones in a semicircle. A man wearing a beige coat with a hood and carrying a communication unit on his back. The same man covered in blood with pentagrams on his face._

"He's not responding! Get help!"

_A red light. Screaming. A cold laugh. A kind voice. Warmth. Cold. A crushing fear. A creature with a huge grin._

His knees gave way.

_The light was getting brighter._

_So afraid._

_Bright. Cold._

_Darkness._

**Soul Society, Secluded Area**

A brown haired young woman stood in the center of a clearing. Three men clad in black with white coats stood behind her.

The woman was not acknowledging their presence. She was focusing on the sword she held perpendicular to her body. Her brown eyes narrowed in intense concentration.

Energy was visible exuding from her body. Her blade glowed a light red.

The clearing was silent, broken only by the cry of the young woman:

"_**Bankai!"**_

**London, Exorcist Headquarters**

Komui's desk was dwarfed by the towers of paper placed beside it acting like turrets to a once proud castle buried by avalanches of paperwork. Somewhere in this paper snowed area was Komui himself.

Reever Wenhamm faced this scene with a look of frustration while Lenalee just looked on in disgust.

"Brother's somewhere in there right?" Lenalee asked eyeing an unstable pack of papers. "We just have to wake him up."

"Yep" Reever sighed. "Komui! Allen hurt Lenalee!"

Komui shot up like a bullet wearing a construction helmet and holding a ridiculously big drill. His eyes were glinting dangerously promising death to whoever dared to hurt his little sister. Elsewhere in the building Allen felt a chill.

"Brother, calm down Allen didn't touch me." The last part had been slightly muffled due to him realizing that Lenalee was in the vicinity and had hugged her talking randomly about murdering Allen.

"Chief Komui Leverier wants to talk to you A.S.A.P."

Komui straightened up and nodded walking away.

He reached the meeting room and entered taking a seat opposite Leverier.

"We were able to trace the transmission that the girl used. I want you to head to the source."

Shocked Komui stood and demanded "What? Why me? I am the supervisor of the Black Order what reason do I have to leave?

"If their friends are as strong as those four we will need all the help we can get in order to recruit and study them."

Leverier gave Komui telling him to back off. Unwilling Komui sat back down.

"That still doesn't explain—

"You will be studying our _guests'_ strange innocence"

"Their friend had asked Orihime when she had learned English, which means their foreigners. Where was the signal traced back to?"

"Japan"

"I take it Kanda is coming a long?"

"Yes as well as Allen Walker, Noise Marrie, Lavi, Lenalee and Arrastar Krory are accompanying you. You should go pack; you and the exorcists leave in the morning." Leverier turned back to his papers.

Komui headed to the door, but stopped right in front of it.

"Where in Japan?"

"Excuse me?"

"Where was the signal traced to?" Komui repeated, dreading the answer.

"A place called Karakura Town."

**End of Arc 1**

* * *

**An: **many thanks to Jman12394 for reading this chapter over. A picture of Rai Yutaka is on my profile for those who wish to know what he looks like.

This is where I chose arc one of the story to end, there are two more arcs to go until I reach a stopping point. From that point I might take a break from this story and work on other things or find out where this story is heading.

Please review, it keeps Leverier away


	9. Whispers in the Dark

**Chapter Eight: Whispers in the Dark**

_I was standing in front of the man with the thin moustache. The man who took my friend away._

_My friend? Who?_

_He was speaking, I can't hear him. _

_I was irritated. _

_There was some sort of barrier preventing me from hearing and completely understanding what these visions are. _

_As if someone drugged me._

_My friend walked into the room, I was sad. _

_Why?_

_These visions are important. But I can't make any sense of them. _

_Why?_

_What are they trying to tell me?_

**Team Headquarters**

My head hurt. It was if someone had hit me over the head with a war hammer _again_. I could hear hushed voices speaking close by. I was lying on a mattress.

_I'm in the infirmary._

My eyes snapped open and I shot up startling Steve who was curled up on the chair next to my bed. Steve was a mod soul put into a plush blue dragon. He's about four to five years old.

"Rai's awake! Rai's awake!" Steve the blue dragon chirped happily. Yuki and Hanatarou walked in from outside. It was their voices I had heard.

"How are you feeling Yutaka? Is there any lightheadedness?" Hanatarou asked. He was the main medic of the Karakura Team. When the Team was established we needed medics otherwise Orihime would be overwhelmed. Hanatarou was among the few who volunteered.

"No my head just aches, what happened?"

Yuki and Hanatarou looked at each other, and then turned back to me. "We were hoping that you could tell us."

"I don't remember." All I could remember was a red light.

_**Liar.**_

I froze; it had been a while since I had heard that voice. I had hoped tha-

_**You thought I had left? That I had been destroyed?**_

"Sir what's wrong? "

I had curled into the fetal position and was grasping my head. That voice had haunted me since my arrival in Rukon. My medication had held it at bay, until now.

"The _voice_ is back and it's not my conscience."

If my eyes hadn't been clenched tight I would've seen the alarmed expressions on Yuki and Hanatarou's faces. As it was I only heard Hanatarou fumble for my medicine and force it down my throat.

_**The medicine will work for a time but eventually I. Will. Triumph. I will be the King!**_

The voice faded into nothingness and I relaxed. Then a thought occurred to me. If I was in the infirmary, why the hell was Yuki here? He's supposed to be my second in command!

"Aren't you supposed to be at work?" I demanded, facing Yuki.

_He has new orders._

"I was ordered to give you a message when you regained consciousness." Yuki shifted his feet as he said this, refusing to meet my eyes. "Halibel is manning my station at the moment."

"And?"

"Hinamori Momo the lieutenant of your division achieved Bankai yesterday."

I froze then relaxed, it only been a matter of time after the war for her to reach that level.

"All squad members fifth seat and above are commanded to return to the Seireitei to be tested for the vacant lieutenant spot."

I groaned I'm the fifth seat so I just made the cut for the lieutenant proficiency test. I kicked the blanket off of my feet and stood.

"I better get ready then."

**London, Headquarters of the Black Order**

Komui sat at his desk with his head in his palms. Of all the places in the world Karakura Town, Japan was one of the last places he wanted to go to. Not after they had lost a certain exorcist there, it would be too painful.

Lavi, Krory, Noise and Allen probably wouldn't care, they had never met him. But Kanda and Lenalee would care very much, the three of them had been nearly inseparable. Komui was not looking forward to informing Kanda that they were traveling to Karakura, _especially_ so soon after Alma's resurrection.

Reever came in through the door holding his customary stack of papers talking over his shoulder to the exorcists trailing behind him.

Komui motioned for the exorcists to sit on the couches in front of his desk. He ignored Reever's statement about how he had more work for him.

"I have some bad news."

That got everyone's attention, he may not be too serious most of the time, but his tone told them how serious he was.

"Levverier has decided that he wants to recruit the allies of the group we picked up in North America."

"Cool," Lavi said, "so where are you sending –"

"Brother what's wrong?" Lenalee interrupted noticing the troubled look on Komui's face.

"First, it's been decided that I'll be accompanying you in order to research their technology."

"And the second?" Kanda asked. Komui fought back the urge to wince; Kanda was not in a good mood. Then again, was he ever? '_He used to be, before __**he**__ died_ 'said his traitorous mind.

Komui sighed and said, "A place many of us here in this room are familiar with. We are being sent to Karakura Town, Japan. "

Dead silence filled the room at his words.

"No" Kanda said, his voice frosty.

"Come on Yuu-"Lavi began.

"I'm not going there, find someone else." Kanda made to leave.

"Kanda Yuu! I know that he was your friend, he was mine as well and I would rather steer clear of Karakura all together. But the higher ups have ordered us to go, so go we will" Komui said steal in his voice daring Kanda to object.

**Soul Society**

I stepped out of the Senkaimon and into the Seireitei. Two nameless shinigami from the first division were waiting for me. I had no idea who they were, and they didn't offer their names.

"We have been waiting for you fifth division fifth seat, please follow us."

I nodded, not like I could do anything else. Well… I could but I don't think they'd appreciate me cackling or singing "I know a song that gets on every-bodies nerves". Spoilsports.

"Yutaka Rai as you are the fifth seat of the fifth division, you are a candidate for the vacant lieutenant position. In order to obtain this position you are required to take the lieutenant proficiency exam. Do you understand?"

"I have no interest in taking the exam"

"Excuse me?" the one on the right said. Maybe I should call him Thing 1? Nah. " To be a candidate for the lieutenant spot is a great honor! How can you say that you have no interest in taking the exam?"

I shrugged, "you two obviously haven't read up on my medical history, I'm _mentally_ _unstable_, putting me in a position like that is not. A .Good. Idea. Furthermore I'm the head monitor for the Karakura Team how could that possibly work out in the end?"

"I think you misunderstand your position fifth seat," the one on the left said finally speaking. That's it he's Tweedle-Dee and the other is Tweedle-Dum! "This isn't a request, as per the command of Central 46 you are to take the lieutenant proficiency test."

I glared but nodded, somehow I knew arguing would be futile.

"Then if I may take my leave gentlemen, I wish to drop off my things before I take the exam."

"Very well report back to this room when you are done we will start immediately."

I nodded and left heading toward the fifth division barracks. Stupid Central 46, why did they have to be reinstated?

**Later, First Division**

I sighed as I glanced at the papers in front of me. Here I was a veteran of the Winter War being forced to take a written test. Great, well if they want to force me to do this, then they better be prepared for some interesting answers.

_2. What does the Captain's Haori represent?_

I smirked; time to mess with Tweedle-Dum and Tweedle-Dee's heads.

_It represents a giant target painted on them saying "here I am look at me! Kill me, and my squad will probably fall apart!"_

_7. Why did you join your squad?_

_To show all of you ass%^#^ that the fifth division wasn't weak as you thought it was._

_18. What is a lieutenant's duty?_

_I fail to understand this question. This "duty" so called, varies from division to division. If you're talking about the tenth then the lieutenant does nothing, if it's the eighth then the duty is to keep the captain's mind out of the gutter. Need I go on?_

_23. Do you think you're qualified for the job?_

_What kind of question is that? We're taking the test aren't we? Obviously we think we're qualified. Except in my case __**someone else**__ thinks I'm qualified and I want in on whatever they're smoking because it's obviously some pretty good stuff._

I answered most if not all the questions similarly. I was pretty certain that I would fail.

_No you won't the written test part doesn't count for much_

I shook my head slightly, that was weird and I've been getting those weird visions or feelings a lot recently.

"You will be allowed to have a break; your next exam is near the academy." Tweetle dee said.

I nodded to show that I'd heard. I stepped out of the room and started to wander around.

Eventually I reached the academy grounds and blinked. I felt weird something was nagging me, as if I should be doing something, but my exam didn't start for another hour.

I was about to leave when a student grabbed my arm. I turned and saw it was a red haired male with a mask thing on the right side of his face.

"Yutaka? Yutaka Rai? "The student asked.

"Sorry do I know you?" I asked him, I didn't recognize him but that didn't mean anything.

_Yes it does_

The man blinked and shook his head. "I thought you were someone else; excuse me, good luck on your test."

He walked him away.

I watched him go, that was weird. He was very polite; he was always anything but polite. I froze where had that come from? Did I know that man? If so why couldn't I remember? Normally when souls arrive in Soul Society they remember their past life. But I didn't, when I arrived in Soul Society the only thing I knew was my name.

I sighed there was point mulling over something like this. I had to go take a stupid test. Wait….how did he know that I was taking a test?

**Unknown Location**

The man was sitting on the bench once again feeding the birds.

"It appears that the former member remembers who he is." The stern woman stated.

"And what of the potential one? Has he remembered yet?"

"No, he feels a sense of familiarity with the member but doesn't know why."

"Let us hope that he remembers soon, danger approaches quickly and if he doesn't awaken then the Soul Society will be destroyed."

* * *

An: if there any grammar/ spelling mistakes please tell me! Review please.

The next few chapters are the ones that I really want to write.


	10. Calm before the Storm

**Chapter 9: Calm before the Storm**

_I held a glowing orb between my hands. _

_I could hear a monstrous voice screaming death threats at me._

_I pressed the orb into my chest. _

_My body exploded in pain._

_I don't know how long I lay there, screaming in agony._

_When I woke up the only thing left from my ordeal was a shattered mirror, and an angry red ring in the middle of my chest._

_My head hurt. My eyes focused on the shattered mirror._

_How appropriate._

**5****th**** Division Barracks, Seireitei  
**

"We are pleased to present the new captain and lieutenant of the fifth division. Please give a warm welcome to captain Hinamori and lieutenant Yutaka." Captain-commander Ukitake announced to the Shinigami of the fifth division as my captain and I walked out on to the stage.

All the captains and the lieutenants of the Gotei thirteen were in attendance of this event. I could see some of the Team members here too, not many though, they had their duties.

I schooled my face into a neutral expression so that my displeasure wouldn't show. Somehow I had passed the proficiency test despite my mental condition. I tuned out the noise around me as the voice began speaking to me again. Though thankfully this time there was no killer headache. 

'_**Maybe it was because of your condition that they wanted you, after all who else could understand hollows as you do?'**_

'_Shut up, I don't even know what you're talking about! And how the hell could I understand hollows?'_

'_**Ah, so you have forgotten… pity and here I thought you were just torturing me.'**_

'_What have I forgotten?"_

'…'

'_Answer me damn it!'_

"Lieutenant Yutaka? It's your turn." The captain-commander told me kindly, bringing me back to the present. I nodded and walked up to the podium that my lieu—captain had been speaking from.

"Good morning everyone, I actually don't have much to say other than though I won't be here as often as other lieutenants, I will do my best to serve this division." I stated keeping it simple and went back to the place I had been standing in previously. I'm still wondering why they promoted me to lieutenant, I have other duties. Unless Central forty-six is meddling again.

Captain-commander Ukitake retunred to the podium and continued his welcome speech. I zoned him out again because something else had caught my attention. I saw… a plate of some sort on the chests of many, no, all the Shinigami assembled here that I could see. Then as soon as I focused on them, they vanished.

Though it had only been for a moment I had felt a sense of _familiarity_.

'_What is going on? What is with these hallucinations that I've been having? I'm on medication to stop hallucinations for pity's sake! I shouldn't be seeing things… You know I probably should be paying attention to captain-commander Ukitake's speech…ooo shiny!'_

Not once did the thought cross my shattered mind that the hallucinations were in any way significant.

**Karakura Town, Japan**

The exorcists stepped out of the ark door, into an alley somewhere in western Tokyo.

"The transmission seemed to originate from a building a few blocks away" Komui informed them shifting his equipment pack slightly. He was unused to carrying so much equipment.

A few of the exorcists nodded, Lenalee showed no reaction and Kanda was glaring at nothing in particular. As both had been doing since the meeting.

The building they had traced the signal to was ordinary. Yet for some reason it was irritating Allen's left eye.

"Well this is a surprise" a voice said from behind them. The exorcists reacted instantly whirling around to face a man decked out in green and carrying a cane. Kanda loosened his sword, Lavi hefted his hammer, Krory and Miranda yelped, Allen activated Crown Clown, Noise simply raised an eyebrow.

"Of all people I didn't expect to see you here" Urahara Kisuke stated.

**Seireitei**

This is torture. Sheer torture. Whoever came up with paperwork deserves to be taken out back and ceroed. Repeatedly. How captain Hitsugaya manages to do his lieutenant's work _and_ his own is beyond even my comprehension.

"It's not that bad" my captain stated, looking up from her pile of evil paperwork.

I scowled at her. "You've been doing this for years, me I just had the fifth seat messages and the paperwork required to admit someone into the squad." I told her. "And besides paperwork is evil, evil I tell you!"

Captain Hinamori chuckled then frowned slightly, "I've always wondered about that. You had the highest grades in your class, actually you hold the record for the shortest time spent in the academy, and you went in and out of that place faster than Tōshirō! You're one the fifth's strongest fighters. And yet you focus on the new recruits from the academy despite the fact that you dislike them, ever since the Winter War."

I put down the pile of paperwork and leaned back "the truth is that I don't know. I just do it."

I leaned forward, folded my hands and leaned my forehead against them looking at the desk. "I just feel this urge to do it, as if I need to do it. I can't explain it part of me doesn't want to. I'm afraid of what the repercussions will be if I do, but then again I've never exactly been stable."

After that the office was quiet.

**Team Headquarters, Urahara Shoten**

"So what are you doing here in Karakura?" Urahara asked his guests, sipping his tea.

"We are investigating a signal that came from within this area." Komui said, also taking a sip of his tea, wishing he was anywhere but here. This place reminded him of the terrible loss that occurred five years prior.

"Ah so you're the ones that have Inoue, Ishida and the others. " Urahara said placing his cup down and putting his hands on his crossed legs and sighed.

"It would be in your best interest to return them to us. I can name at least ten people who would not hesitate to destroy the Black Order to get them back." He told them calmly all trace of his former cheer gone. _'And one of them would give you a heart attack.'_

Kanda snorted "they wouldn't do much."

Urahara gave him a calculating look, "underestimating your opponent will get yourself killed."

"Yeah well we could sti—"Allen stopped mid-sentence and seemed to space out. He could hear the others still arguing but he no longer saw the room he was sitting in.

**He was in a city, or what was left of it at least. Strange monsters were milling about howling. There were dead everywhere. In the air stood two figures, a brown haired man wearing a cloak and the millennium earl. **

The scene, a soft voice spoke _**'you're not ready to shoulder the burden that comes with these visions.'**_

'_What? Who are you?' _

'_**A friend and a Guard….**_'

Allen shook his head, unnoticed by everyone. '_What was that?'_ He wondered.

Somewhere in Soul Society, Hitsugaya saw a similar experience and wondered what it could mean and why he had a sense of déjà vu.

"I knew someone who rushed in without thinking; he saved my two wards but succumbed to his wounds and died. I'm not against what he did and I couldn't thank him enough for that. At least three of the people he left behind are in this room." Urahara stated as Kanda began to get up.

"Actually speaking of him, he left behind some things for you, should you ever come here." Urahara said taking out a small box. Lifting the lid he pulled out a small package. From the package he pulled out a pair of red, battered looking goggles.

"To Komui Lee, I leave behind my goggles which can reveal the hidden Akuma, maybe you can figure out what the hell I did to make them work." Urahara handed Komui the goggles. From the package Urahara pulled out a small pile of photos.

"To Lenalee Lee I leave the small amount of pictures I had on me, if you cry because of this, I will come back and haunt you…until Komui figures out how to perform an exorcism to get me to leave you alone."

Lenalee accepted the pile of pictures with teary eyes. As she riffled through them, Allen and Lavi peeked over her shoulder. She stopped at a picture containing three children in their early teens, Lenalee complete with pigtails, a boy with dark spiky hair and red goggles perched on his head, and Kanda. All three had varying degrees of smiles on their faces.

"Aaah! Kanda is smiling! It's the apocalypse!" Allen and Lavi cried out, pointing accusatory figures at Kanda. Kanda glared daggers of painful death at them and would have probably initiated a fight f Urahara didn't butt in:

"To Kanda Yuu I leave behind all the information I consolidated on your past, including the address of your parents' house….or at least what's left of it. Actually by the time you get this you can probably inherit it. Have fun!"

Kanda's reply was cut off by an alarm blaring throughout the building.

"_**Red alert! Red alert! Multiple Hollows are converging upon Karakura Town. All team members report to your battle-stations. I repeat multiple Hollows are converging upon Karakura, all team members report to your battle-stations."**_

**Unknown Location**

"My lord, Devas has begun his attack." The green and black clad man said.

"Excellent, let us see how those vermin react to someone of Devas's caliber." The Demon Lord said, a cruel smile breaking out on his face.

"Call all officers who hold rank above colonel, I found their input informative and entertaining."

**Seireitei, First Division**

"What? An army of hollows are attacking Karakura Town?" Captain Soifon cried.

"Multiple Shinigami have been dispatched to reinforce the Team, " Captain Hitsugaya reported, "including most of the second, fifth, and eleventh divisions along with multiple Shinigami from the other divisions.

'_**It's a trick, you must call them back!'**_

"Good, let's hope that this will be dealt with quickly." Captain-commander Ukitake said.

'_**Damn it, come on, you have to hear me lead-ears! You have to call them back!'**_

"Sir I don't like this, why would Hollows suddenly attack Karakura, they know we protect it, it's practically suicide." I said. Since the winter war, lieutenants usually attended meetings with their captains.

'_**You must leave you idiot, if you stay you'll die again, and we can't afford to lose a second generation!'**_

"Since when have lesser hollows actually thought things through? They follow only their instincts nothing more, nothing less. Only Aizen managed to control them enough so they could follow orders." Captain Kurotsuchi stated.

'_**Damn it! Wake up, can't you see it?'**_

"But what if they_ are_ being led by someone? We could be barreling into a trap!" I said almost pleading. I had a really bad feeling about this. As if every fiber of my being was telling me that something disastrous was going to take place. It was as if a voice was begging me to listen and retreat.

A few moments later I found out why my sixth sense was telling me that I should have high-tailed my ass out of there.

An explosion followed by an enormous amount of spirit pressure knocked most of the people in the room to the floor. Those who could get up, including me managed to make it outside where it felt as if our blood had been subject to Daiguren Hyōrinmaru.

'_**Too late'**_

An army of Gillians and Adjuchas were firing upon the Seireitei. On the ground a Shinigami lay dead, the spirit pressure was so suffocating that he had died because he couldn't breathe properly. The source of the energy was a small humanoid figure standing in the air far enough away that we could still hear him.

"I am Devas" the hollow said, "die."

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

_AN: _

_The next three chapters have been in my head since this story was created so I've been really excited about writing them. In honor of that I have uploaded two chapters today._

_I appreciate any input that you have, including questions on the story, ideas/theories that you have regarding what will happen in future chapters, and you're opinion of the story in general. Also, as Jman12394 is busy this chapter has not been betaed, if there is any grammar or spelling mistakes please tell me and I'll fix it ASAP._

_That is all, thank you for reading._

_Please Review, reviews will be used to help Rai destroy paperwork._


	11. Dead Inside

_**Chapter 10: Dead Inside**_

_**Dead inside  
My heart and soul flatlines  
Put your mouth on mine  
And bring me back to life  
Dead inside  
No other satisfies  
My blood runs dry  
Take my life  
Save me from this death inside**_

_**-Dead Inside, Skillet**_

_I always wear combat boots. I don't know what inspired me to do so, but it's helped out in the past._

_See most Arrancar and Shinigami wear sandals. One would think that it would have occurred to them to wear something that offers a bit more protection? _

_I've lost count how many Arrancars I have either stomped on the foot on or just plain kicked them with my steel toed boots._

_There are times I see myself in the Living World travelling over rough terrain, in my boots. _

_There are two things that confuse me whenever this happens._

_One, I'm not wearing my Shinigami uniform, but I could be in a gigai._

_The second confuses me even more; in these visions I appear to be fourteen._

_My appearance is that of a nineteen year old._

_**Last time:**_

An army of Gillians and Adjuchas were firing upon the Seireitei. On the ground a Shinigami lay dead, the spirit pressure was so suffocating that he had died because he couldn't breathe properly. The source of the energy was a small humanoid figure standing in the air far enough away that we could still hear him.

"I am Devas" the hollow said, "die."

**Seireitei, outside First Division**

Silence,

Silence only broken by the continuous bombardment from the hollows, and the screams of the Shinigami as they were hit, maimed, or killed by said hollows.

It's like the Winter War all over again. Hollows who follow a leader that doesn't give a damn about them. The only thing they care about is overwhelming us. Well there's only one solution to that.

Around me I could hear the other captains and lieutenants conversing and strategizing. I slipped the katana hilt I had up my sleeve down into the palm of my right hand. If my plan is going to work I have to move fast. (1)

Pushing energy into my legs, I catapulted myself into the oncoming mass of hollows. _'What was that phrase? It was named after a character in some video-game…oh yeah! Leeeeerrrrrooooy Jeeeennnkkkiinnss!'_

"_Lieutenant!" _I could hear someone screech behind me. I ignored them, as a thought occurred to me. _'Hmm... I'm facing off against multiple enemies, just charged off by myself, possibly ruining any plans that the captains managed to come up with…..oh god I'm doing a Zaraki! …I think I'm gonna need to look in to getting a heavier dosage of my medicine…'_

An intrepid low level hollow managed to reach me first. slamming the hilt into my left palm, I pulled. As I pulled my zanpakutou out of the seal on my left hand, the blade glowed blue. I sliced the hollow in half, when a few higher level hollows passed me.

The captains and lieutenants weren't prepared at all. _'Why are they still standing there? ok who's bright idea was it to say that it was okay to have an effin' discussion when under attack? If I ever find out, I will kill him, that and the guy who invented paperwork.'_ Then I remembered something, none of the captains or lieutenants knew how to use seals, which meant _none_ of them, had their _zanpakutous. _

'_Bloody brilliant.'_

As another hollow approached me attempting to decapitate me I ducked, planted my feet on his chest with my knees bent and shunpoed off him in the direction of the superior officers. The hollow I used as a trampoline went barreling into the hollows that couldn't get out of the way fast enough, creating a domino effect, buying me a few minutes.

Placing my sword in front of me, I cried out, "Dissolve! Shūen No Mizu!" (2)

**Karakura Town, outside Team Headquarters**

Headquarters was in chaos.

All on-duty members had been sent to intercept the incoming hollows. Those on reserve were being called in, if they hadn't already come in of their own volition. The exorcists had been _commanded _to stay inside, for the simple reason of that they couldn't _see _the hollows. Instead they were forced to watch the rapid preparations of the Team for the incoming injured and dead.

It was slightly disturbing to see the members, some only a few years older than Allen waiting for the influx of _dead_ with such cold efficiency.

"Sad isn't it?" a voice to the side of them asked. The exorcists' heads whipped around to see a young boy with short and spiky hair. His hair color was split down the middle. The right half of his hair was black and the left was white. His eyes were orange and he had red stripes stretching diagonally across his cheeks from the corner of his eyes to the sides of his jaw.

He smiled, "Sorry for startling you, I'm so used to my captain not reacting at all when I appear suddenly. He considers it training for unexpected appearances on the battlefield. I guess it became a habit for me to just pop up. Oh, I didn't introduce myself; I'm Kurotsuki Yuki, second in-command of the Monitor division."(3)

Komui nodded toward the young boy, "what exactly do you do?"

Yuki responded, "We separate Earth into sections, then assign teams of two to observe those sections for any abnormal energy."

Seeing the blank expressions on most of their faces, Yuki elaborated. "Spirit energy is something that all you humans have, though for normal humans it is very low and difficult to sense. Those with higher spirit energy, otherwise known as reiatsu, are the ones we keep an eye out for. They are targets for hollows, who will eat them if they don't control their energy, or if we don't reach them in time."

A look of comprehension appeared on most of the exorcists' faces, although Noise and Komui both wore frowns.

Seeing this Yuki inquired, "Is something the matter?"

"You speak as if you aren't human, you said 'you humans', why?" Komui asked.

"You are an Arrancar," Noise said a statement not a question.

Yuki said nothing but simply grinned revealing elongated canines, _fangs_. Allen, Lavi and Krory recoiled from the slightly demonic look in Yuki's eyes.

"An Arrancar?" Kanda asked, speaking for the first time since the meeting with Urahara.

"A Hollow and Soul Reaper hybrid, in other words a hollow that has soul reaper abilities." Noise said.

"You're certainly well informed" Yuki said raising a questioning brow.

"I have met and had conversations with an Arrancar, who lived in the living world, along with the rest of us" the last part Noise murmured.

"Who was this Arrancar?" Yuki inquired. It was unheard of for an Arrancar to exist in the Living World without the Soul Society knowing.

Noise was saved from replying by an explosion. A part of the wall gave way and in stepped an Adjuchas. Yuki immediately pulled the sword from his back and leapt forward engaging the hollow.

All the exorcists could see was Yuki fighting a shimmering figure, with two gold flashes around where the eyes should be. (4)

**Unknown Location**

A group of people dressed in cloaks and armor, wearing devilish helmets sat in a circle. In the center of the circle was a large circular dip that was filled with water. The Demon Lord observed the water with keen interest.

"It seems Devas has gone ahead with his assault upon the vermin." General Kusakabe stated. (5)

The water showed fires beginning to spread, as a small humanoid hollow with ruffs of fire burning on his forearms, threw fireballs at the ground. The Vasto Lorde wore a white cloth draped over one shoulder and going down to his knees with a cloth belt tied around his waist. His horns which protruded from his mask had flaming tips and he had red markings over his body.

The scene changed to show a young looking Shinigami taking on multiple hollows solo. Each time he killed a hollow, and also while fighting a hollow, his blade would shatter and reform as a different weapon.

"That boy," began Clovis, "he reminds me of Yutaka Takahashi, and the boy's zanpakutou is very similar to his." (6)

A murmur of agreement went around the room at the Colonel's words.

"Whatever happened to old Yutaka anyway?" one Lieutenant Colonel asked.

"Didn't Nihil kill him, his wife, along with two other Guards?" asked a Brigadier General. (8)

There was a stunned silence in the war room. The assembled military personnel looked up at the Demon Lord in apprehension.

"So it appears that Yutaka had a son who survived, and that son is in Seireitei," was all he said.

"General Kusakabe, what is the probability of the boy being a Potential?" asked the figure in black and green.

"Considering his parents? High, very high, in fact I'd be surprised if he wasn't, Master Kenji." The General answered.

"Then he must be dealt with, tell Devas to eliminate him." The Demon Lord commanded, leaning back with a faint smirk on his face. This could prove to be very interesting.

**Karakura Town**

Yuki slammed into the wall and slowly crumpled to the ground, unconscious. The Adjuchas stepped over him and turned toward the exorcists. Allen shifted nervously, it was hard to fight something you couldn't see. It was times like this that he felt like all the other exorcists who didn't have a cursed eye like he did.

Allen squinted at the shimmering air below the floating eyes, trying to see if he could get any hint as to where the hollow would attack. There! There was a thin strip of shimmering air!

Suddenly the shimmer moved forward, Allen barely dodged the attack, falling to the ground in his attempt to get out of the way.

"Allen!" Lenalee cried from somewhere behind the rubble, alarmed.

Allen rolled to the right as the pincer attempted to skewer him. _'Wait… pincer?' _was the thought that ran through Allen's mind as his eyes widened at the creature in front of him. Standing up, Allen got a good look at the Adjuchas.

It looked like a giant scorpion with human-like arms. Its pincer was hopefully its only weapon. Allen gripped his left hand with his right and pulled. His arm shifted into a large sword.

Allen charged the scorpion-hollow with a battle cry. Not once did he wonder about the significance of that moment.

**Unknown Location**

The girl sat dejected on the bench, the man was feeding the birds again. The man sighed, "Ok, I'll bite, what's wrong?"

"What's wrong? What's wrong! A Vasto Lorde is attacking the Soul Society. A Potential is fighting for his life, death, whatever, and the other two second generations are under attack in the Living World and you are asking me what's wrong!" during her tirade the violet eyed, red haired girl had begun to pace.

Getting up the man placed his hands on the girl's shoulders, "you mean you haven't noticed?"

"Noticed what?"

The black haired, blue eyed man smiled. "The Potential in Soul Society felt your rather vocal attempts to get him to leave, he has been having visions of his past, he sometimes knows what people are going to say before they say it, and he can see the _plates_."

"He can see the plates?" the girl asked stunned. The man nodded.

"Then that means—"

"He will return soon, it is only a matter of time"

**Seireitei**

I dodged the giant foot that almost squashed me. This stupid Gillian had appeared out of nowhere and almost squashed me! How dare it!

I jumped up to the level of the Gillian's head and changed my zanpakutou's shape to a neck cleaver. (9) whirling in midair I through it at the Gillian's head where it imbedded itself in its mask. Before it could react I launched myself at it. Twisting around in midair, I landed on the hilt of my blade, pushing it in deeper. The force of my impact was enough to completely crack the mask and caused the Gillian to fall backward.

I gripped my sword and launched myself off of the Gillian, slicing the low level hollow that tried to hit me.

A hollow with what looked like a missile launcher for an arm fired said missiles at me. I twisted to the right, hunkered down, did a move similar to leap frog, summersaulted got on one knee and sliced off the hollows legs with my short sword. Standing up I stabbed my blade into its head.

Gasping for breath, I caught a whiff of something, ash. The hair on the back of my neck stood on end. _'DUCK!' _my mind screamed. I complied and narrowly missed having my head separated from my body. I happen to like my head where it is thank you very much.

Spinning around I came face to face with the Vasto Lorde, Devas. (10)

'_Well shit, this isn't good'_

"You are a Potential, therefore you must be…eliminated." The hollow said, as he swiped his 3 finge—clawed hand at me.

I twisted to the right again. I leap-frogged over Devas as he attempted to skewer me with his arm, luckily I missed his flaming horns.

'_Wait a minute…flaming horns…he's gay!'_

"you know I sensed you coming" I ducked, "I guess," I kicked him in the shin, he hit me in the stomach, I gripped his arm and pulled him to the ground as I planted my leg in his stomach kicking him into the wall behind us. "I guess I have something like a spider-sense…a hollow sense!" I grinned, and then frowned, "does that mean I have a theme song?"

"You are irritating" devas said brushing off the dust as the wounds I had inflicted healed.

"Hey that's not fair! No healing, I worked hard to give you those lacerations!" I complained. I was rewarded with a bala. I dodged by standing on my tiptoes as it passed within a hairs breadth of me.

"Shut up, you insufferable pest!" Devas shouted, throwing bala after bala at me.

Even with my variation of Suiken I couldn't dodge all of them. When I stumbled, Devas was all over me. For every punch I managed to land, he would hit me ten times harder. For every cut I managed to make he threw me into a wall.

I attempted to stab him, but misjudged the distance and started to fall forward. Devas's fist was introduced painfully to my face. I felt my nose and goggles break as I went flying into another wall.

I could barely stay awake. Everything was spinning and blurry. Vaguely I realized how lucky I was that the cartilage in my nose hadn't hit my brain.

'_Great a slow death as opposed to a quick one and relatively painless one…crap'_

"You fight well for a Soul Reaper, but in the end it was al—"Devas was beginning a monologue. Thankfully I was slowly losing consciousness so I wouldn't have to listen to him monologue which would only add to my agony…wait a minute that means I'm—I'm dying.

"_Don't you dare die!"_

My eyes widened. Desperately I mentally gripped the voice and followed it to its source. Instantly I was hit with a barrage of images.

_A long haired teen with a glowing sword_

_A girl's voice, the same as before, "welcome home"_

_A mad scientist "no one hurts my sister!"_

_Cold. _

_Warm. _

_Dark._

_Light._

_Understanding._

_I __**remember.**_

I could feel the cartilage in my nose resetting in self. I could feel energy coursing through my veins. I smirked.

"-and now your pitiful life will end" Devas was still monolouguing.

"Shut. Up."

"What was that? You're still alive?" Devas inquired. "That's too bad and here I was actually going to kill you quic—"

"I am having an epiphany, **shut the hell up**!" I yelled the rubble around me exploding as my spirit energy soared. Devas went flying but managed to right himself by dragging his claws into the ground.

"w-what are you?" he managed to ask while taking a step back as my energy continued to climb, managing to match his.

"I am neither Shinigami nor Hollow; I am neither Vaizard nor Arrancar.

I stand with one foot in each world,

I hold Soul Society in my right hand and Hueco Mundo in my left.

I am that which binds them together**.**

**I. Am. A. Hybrid!"**

Gripping my sword, I lifted it so that it was perpendicular to the ground. I raised my head, my gold eyes meeting Devas's red ones.

"_**BANKAI!"**_

_AN: _

_1) Naruto style seal, I couldn't resist_

_2) Shūen No Mizu- Waters of demise, please note I used Google translate to get this translation so if it isn't correct I did the best I could considering I don't know anyone who is Japanese_

_3) Just wanted to mention that Yuki is my character. He is a character that is important in my own story that isn't a fanfiction. The funny thing is he is actually fulfilling the role he originally had when I created him. (I had this comic I was working on in 2006 and Yuki appeared in it, I never did finish that comic hmm…possible fic for later)_

_4) Exorcists can only see the eyes of a hollow, thought it would be better than just seeing an outline of the hollow, for reasons that will be explained later._

_5) Yep I took the name from Code Geass, can't remember it was the general who took Euphy hostage._

_6)aah Clovis, also from Code Geass appeared for a whopping 2 episodes… ok I admit I was writing this scene on impulse and those were the only names I could come up with… eh it's a fanfic, maybe I'll put inside jokes in there…_

_7) Just so people are aware; I'm going off a website for military ranks as I have no idea which rank is higher. That being said I am going by the American Army ranks not navy or air force etc._

_8) Pronounced Nye-hill. _

_9) Zabuza's sword to be specific_

_10) If it weren't for the fact that this chapter has been begging to be written since around the time when this story was created, I could have ended it there. Alas the place I really wanted/ planned to end it happens a little later._

_Please note that this chapter has not been betaed, I have gone over this chapter a few times but if there are any mistakes **please tell me!**_

_Ok question, who/what do you think the Demon Lord is? And what is his goal?_

_Please Review. _

_Reviews will be used to feed Allen Walker's insatiable appetite. _


	12. Forgotten Remembrance

**_Chapter Eleven: Forgotten Remembrance_**

_Death,_

_The end,_

_The darkness._

_Funny, how when we are living we assume that death is the end of all things._

_Wrong._

_Death is merely a threshold that everyone will pass through._

_A threshold I have run from time and time again._

_The first time?_

_ The first time was when my parents and their associates were murdered in front of me. They were targets of the Vasto Lordes, and were terminated alongside my friends parents. _

_But wait, I suppose I should start from the beginning._

_My parents were powerful beings. When I was young my reiatsu was incredibly strong, so my parents had to teach me to control it._

_For years my friend and I wondered why people of their caliber weren't in the Seireitei. And if they were so powerful what did that make us? How strong would we be? Would we ever be able to live a normal life? Why did we even care? Our parents were awesome!_

_Reality caught up with us when our parents were killed by a Vasto Lorde. I don't think it knew that my friend and I existed. If it did it would have killed us. Though it might have been the fact that my friend had unknowingly accessed his zanpakutou's ability at that moment when the Vasto Lorde looked at us._

_That was the first time I encountered Death._

_As it was after the incident, we were placed in an orphanage. _

_While there, I attempted to teach my nine year old friend one of the only skills my parents had taught me at that point. Shunpo._

_My friend was able to grasp the basic concept but would put too much reiatsu into it, resulting in wounds on his ankles._

_Then the man with a mustache took my friend._

_At ten years old I had lost my parents and my only friend._

_At twelve, an Akuma, a man-made hollow attacked my orphanage. _

_My friend, a second-exorcist at this point, attacked it protecting the souls of the children at the orphanage. He wasn't doing too well, the Akuma was approaching evolution. He needed a second's distraction in order to destroy it._

_ I could give it to him._

_I picked up a small rock, and threw it. _

_Along with a healthy dose of reiatsu thrown in, I wasn't a complete idiot._

_To say the Akuma was surprised that a mere pebble had inflicted damage would be an understatement. _

_My friend was able to kill it, when it turned to look at me._

_That was the second time I met Death and escaped its clutches._

_After the battle I was taken to the Asian branch of the Black Order._

_A year passed, when I was thirteen, I did something that Soul Society under Yamamoto would have killed me for. _

_God knows he wanted to kill Ichigo when he found about his inner hollow._

_No, I did something far worse in their eyes._

_I didn't battle my hollow for control. _

_No, I fused with it._

_I became neither Shinigami nor hollow. _

_I wasn't an Arrancar or a Vaizard._

_I was of both worlds._

_Unfortunately, my mind wasn't prepared for the fusion of an insane entity…now that I think about it, are any inner hollows that are sane? But I digress, my mind shattered, leaving me a mentally unstable being with what felt like an infinite amount of energy._

_Fun._

_I remember the pity that my friends looked at me with. I can't imagine what they must have felt when they saw I had lost my mind._

_The third time I met Death, was back in Japan, where I finally greeted it and passed through the threshold. Two children were in danger of being ingested via hollow. I saved them at the cost of my own life._

_Their caretaker performed Konso on me, and carried out my final wishes._

_When I first arrived in Soul Society, I remembered only my name._

_I didn't know who I was or who I had been. _

_I didn't even know how I died._

_Now I do._

_I know who I am, who I was and how I died._

_For the first time in seven years my mind is clear. _

_The dark voice, the remnants of my inner hollow have vanished._

_I am now how I was after my ordeal, before my death._

_Death,_

_Yes, it seems I met it once again, except this time I didn't run._

_ No, instead I embraced it._

_I have crossed the threshold of Death and returned._

_I have been There and Back again._

_I'm awake and alive._

_

* * *

_

An: this chapter **has not been betaed! **

**Question: **Have you noticed anything in this fic that you want to ask about?

Do you have any theories on things mentioned in the past chapters?

Reviews make me happy and motivate me to write faster.

please review. Thank You.


	13. Awake and Alive

**Chapter 12: Awake and Alive**

_Now I know what I believe inside  
now it's my time  
I'll do what I want 'cause this is my life  
here/right here/ right now/right now  
I'll stand my ground and never back down  
I know what I believe inside  
I'm awake and I'm alive_

_-Skillet, Awake and Alive_

_

* * *

_

_**LAST TIME:**_

_"I am neither Shinigami nor Hollow; I am neither Vaizard nor Arrancar._

_I stand with one foot in each world,_

_I hold Soul Society in my right hand and Hueco Mundo in my left._

_I am that which binds them together__**.**_

_**I. Am. A. Hybrid!"**_

_Gripping my sword, I lifted it so that it was perpendicular to the ground. I raised my head, my gold eyes meeting Devas's red ones._

"_**BANKAI!"**_

_**

* * *

**_

**Seireitei, Soul Society**

Crushing,

Stifling,

Suffocating,

Overpowering.

That was what the sudden increase of reiatsu felt like to most of the Shinigami and hollows battling within Seireitei.

The immensity of the energy was difficult to describe.

It was like looking at the ocean, and never seeing the end.

Though for all its power, it wasn't hostile.

Yes, it did make it slightly difficult to breathe, but it wouldn't kill you through sheer power.

The wielder on the other hand was a completely different story.

"W-what is this power?" Lieutenant Matsumoto asked her Captain," who could be releasing this?"

"I don't know, whoever it is let's hope that they are on our side"

**Elsewhere, Seireitei**

Panic.

Hatred.

Fear.

Those were the emotions flashing through Devas's eyes as he looked at me. Hey if I were in his place, I would probably be afraid too.

And hungry.

Man I could really go for some ramen right about now.

Funny I haven't been this hungry since—

Devas suddenly lunged at me fire licking his fists. I dodge to the right and nearly went into a pile of rubble.

I'd have to watch how much energy I put into my techniques, with my newly reinstated abilities I could easily kill myself.

That would be ironic, death via dodging.

'_yes, Yutaka Rai was a good Shinigami'_, I jumped to avoid Devas's lunge_, 'we will all miss his annoyingness, we shall step up training in Shunpo so that no one else will repeat his mistake by shunpoing straight into a wall…yeah and then they'd go and get hammered….great'_, yet again I dodged Devas's lunge.

It seems with my return I had gained enough speed to keep up with and surpass Devas's speed.

Devas's fist passed centimeters from my face as I side stepped his attack.

Circles had finally begun to appear on Devas's body. It was about time, wonder how long it'll take him to notice."

"What the hell are these things?" Devas shouted. If he had screamed, I probably would have died from laughter.

_Finally _he notices them.

"Exactly what they look like. Targets."

Weapons of various sizes appeared, encircling the Vasto Lorde.

"You may want to dodge if you want to keep those limbs."

The weapons suddenly accelerated, speeding toward the targets on Devas's body. Devas's span, twirled, ducked and did all manner of fancy maneuvers to avoid the flying weapons that would induce varying types of bodily harm.

It looked like he was getting rather annoyed, my comments probably weren't helping.

"You know if you keep this up, you could earn a living in a dance studio. Ah yes I can see it now 'Devas the Flaming Vasto Lorde's Dance Studio'. Complete with targets!"

One of my weapons, a halberd I think, cut a large gash onto Devas's shoulder.

"oo! Better be careful there Devas another hit and you may lose that arm! Just remember kids it's all fun and games until a Flaming hollow gets hurt. Then it's entertainment!"

"_**Shut up and let me kill you!"**_Devas roared, someone's pissed.

Devas suddenly curled into the fetal position. As my weapons raced towards him, the air began to fell heavy.

'_Uh oh'_

The air literally exploded into a giant fireball as Devas released the energy he had gathered.

"Hey if I wanted a light I would've—"

I was interrupted by a knee slamming into my gut. An elbow connected with my back sending me down to the ground as Devas appeared below me. His raised fist once again hit my gut.

He threw me into another building and I slid down the wall.

I coughed and spat out blood.

'_I didn't see that attack coming at all. I shouldn't have just let my bankai do all the work I should've attacked him as well!'_

I guess I have to stop kidding around.

"I will enjoy killing you slowly." Devas said.

I ignored him yet again, seems he forgot his earlier fear. I'll just have to show him what a Hybrid truly was.

Ever since I fused with my hollow I've had a red ring in the center of my chest. It represents the hollow hole I would have if not for my Shinigami powers.

Red lines appeared on my face and chest branching off from the ring. Energy flowed strongly to my shoulder blades, forming large energy wings.

The whites of my eyes turned to black, and my canines lengthened.

Devas looked bemused and then surprised as I disappeared.

"Where the hell did he—"he began.

"Here."

Devas looked down just as my fist impacted his face. He went shooting upwards.

I followed, my wings propelling me upwards, past Devas.

My weapons reappeared and impaled Devas. I charged up a cero in left hand and pushed all my other energy into my right.

'Wha—?"

Those were his last words.

The cero went straight through his heart.

My energy fist hit him in the gut, sending him crashing into the ground.

I focused my remaining energy into my right index finger.

"Spirit Gun." (1)

The beam, more like canon ball, hit Devas's struggling form head on.

When the dust cleared all that remained was a large crater.

My world was spinning.

My wings disintegrated and the ground rushed to meet me.

Then… darkness.

**Karakura Town, Team Headquarters**

The street was littered with rubble and injured, some dead.

The hollows had ceased their assault and retreated to Hueco Mundo.

Recovery efforts had begun. The Exorcists were assisting the Team.

The boys were carrying the injured to the med bay and the girls were helping administer care to the injured there.

Yuki with a bandage around his head stood on the sidelines as Ichigo Kurosaki stared down Komui.

They were in a meeting room. A phone sat in the middle of the table.

"I will only say this once, return Inoue now."

"I can't do that, my superiors—" Komui began.

"We will handle your superiors, let us speak with them." Urahara said walking into the room.

"Very well."

Komui went to the phone, and dialed, he asked for a man named Leverier

"_This is __Leverier__, what is it?"_

"We have located the source of the signal, someone wants to speak to you," Komui said, handing the phone over to Urahara.

"_Hello?"_

"My name Urahara Kisuke, I am here to request the return of Inoue Orihime, Ishida Uryuu, Yasutora Sado, Ulquiorra Schiffer and Grimmjaw Jeagerjaques."

"_I'm afraid I can't do that, we have need of their abilities."_

"Is that your final answer?"

"_yes"_

"Very well, I wish I didn't have to do this." Urahara nodded to Yuki, who went to the control panel on the wall. Holding down a button Yuki spoke into the mike over the P.A system.

"Execute Order Sixty-Six."(2)

All around the building all empty-handed Team members surrounded the Exorcists and restrained them.

"What are you doing?" Allen yelled, the side of his head being held to the ground as a member held his arms behind his back.

"You have been deemed a threat," Was the answer given.

Back in the meeting room, Komui was pressed against the wall, with his hands held by Yuki.

"You, the Black Order have taken one of our own captive. Therefore the Exorcist within this building has been captured and will be traded with our allies in your care, do you accept?"

"_I have checked your 'allies' abilities, they are more powerful than any Exorcist you have there, I don't accept."_

"You would sacrifice your own-, very well, we have nothing more to discuss."

Urahara slammed the phone back into its holder.

"Ichigo gather a team, get them back, we can't allow Inoue's group to stay there longer than necessary.

Ichigo nodded and left the room.

Urahara turned to Komui.

"You and the Exorcists will be under a house arrest of sorts for the time being."

Komui grim faced nodded and was led out of the room by Yuki.

He was joined by the _five_ exorcists.

**Unknown Location**

"_**WHAT!" **_ The Demon Lord, roared, "_**Devas failed?"**_

"Y-yes my lord," Kusakabe groveled," it appears that he was defeated by Yuta—GAAH!"

Kusakabe screamed as a sword pierced him through the chest. His body slid to the ground as the sword was pulled out.

The green clad figure cleaned his sword, "my lord may I make a suggestion?"

The Demon Lord glared, "and what, pray tell, is this suggestion?"

The green clad approached his lord, and whispered something into his ear.

The Demon Lord grinned, "Proceed with your plan, and should you fail know that I will be most _displeased."_

The green clad figure nodded and walked away.

**A Few Days Later,**

**Seireitei, Fourth Division**

The members of the Fourth Division were overworked.

There were countless injured, and countless dead.

And the treatment and the cataloging of the deceased all fell onto the shoulders of the Fourth while the other divisions began the repair.

Captain-Commander Ukitake had attempted to make it mandatory for all Shinigami to have a first aid class but Central Forty-Six vetoed.

So the Fourth Division are still overworked and hard pressed to find beds for all the injured.

One case was odd though.

A single patient lay slumbering, unaware of the world around him.

An unseated Shinigami had found him in the center of a crater and brought him to the Fourth.

Surrounding him was the signs of a major battle.

Yet he had only a single injury and an odd blemish.

His right hand up to his elbow had been burned.

On his chest was a red ring.

Nothing would wake him.

Yutaka Rai was comatose.

* * *

_An:_

_1)Yes that's from Yu Yu Hakusho._

_2)I could not resist the Star Wars reference. But in all seriousness it was the only thing I could think of._

_3)This chapter has not been Betaed, but I have looked it over. **If I have made a mistake please tell me!**_

_4)Questions! I like questions! I want to know what people think is going on._

_5)Reviews make me happy. They also motivate me to finish writing whatever chapter I'm on._


	14. Revelations of the Few

**Chapter 13: Revelations of the Few**

_The sound of gunshots rang loudly across the battlefield._

_Streams of red light came from the smoking guns, as the man repeatedly fired._

_Many hollows fell to the ceros fired from the gun._

"Cross Marian!"

The man was brought out of his memories by the old man in front of him who was practically _screeching_ his name.

His wrists and ankles were shackled to the chair he was sitting in. surrounding him were forty-six elite members of the Soul Society.

He had been brought to Central Forty-Six, following the invasion of the Vasto Lorde.

The old men were glaring at him, and yet he really couldn't bring himself to care.

"Do you want to explain how you, an academy student was able to fire off ceros?" one guy with a wart on his nose asked.

Cross remained silent, not giving them the benefit of an answer. _'So what if I used ceros, I just saved all you're a$#$!'_

"Answer me!"

"…"

"Answer me dammit!"

"…"

The wart man ground his teeth, frustrated by the lack of response.

"I have a suggestion." A slightly younger blond man said.

"And what would you suggest Clovis?" the wart man asked.

"If he was firing ceros it is possible that he is an Arrancar in disguise, after all what better way to hide then in plain sight?"

The wart man blinked and murmured conversation broke out. Could an Arrancar actually manage to avoid detection within Soul Society?

"I say we search him for a hollow hole, and have him undergo an evaluation to ascertain his qualifications to be a Shinigami." Clovis continued.

Cross's eyes widened, this wasn't good, his tattoo is still there! He hadn't had a chance to remove it, if it could even be removed.

Two guards came and removed his shirt searching for a hole. There was none that they could see. When one of them looked at his hands, he noticed the gloves that Cross was wearing.

The guard removed the one on the right, nothing.

And then the left.

The guard's eyes widened and he blanched stumbling away from Cross.

"A-Arrancar!"

All those who could see Cross's left hand had similar reactions.

"Well…shit" Cross cursed.

There on the back of his hand, was a tattoo of the number _one_.

**Karakura, Team Headquarters**

"Damn it!" Lavi yelled, slamming his fist into the wall.

The five exorcists had been taken to the barracks and locked in their quarters, with guards standing watch outside.

Their quarters consisted of a series of thirteen rooms connected to one common room. Normally only used when seated members of the Gotei Thirteen needed to meet with the Team. The rooms were set up so that a member from each squad would have his or her own room but could still meet with the other squad members without actually going into Headquarters itself.

The common room had a table surrounded by couches in the center of the room and had bookcases lining the walls.

"Are we seriously just going to let them attack the Black Order?" Lavi demanded, glaring at Komui who was sitting on one of the couches.  
"There is nothing we can _do. _We are nothing more than hostages. To attempt an escape would be _unwise" _Noise stated quietly.

"Why not?" Lenalee asked, "Our friends are there! They could get hurt! Why shouldn't we try to escape?"

"Because they won't hesitate." Noise said. Everyone stared at him, wondering what he was talking about.

"To them hesitation means death, and so if we try to escape we may not survive."

"But they'll still attack the Order! Our friends could die!" Lenalee cried.

"How do you know this Noise?" Komui asked, one of the first words he had spoken since they had been taken hostage.

"Nearly a decade ago, I was part of an organization similar to this one. Our…leader was mysterious, he never showed his face and our enemies were harder to defeat, harder to track. We were their only targets and the only ones who could stand a chance to defeat them. We were unbiased we would accept _anyone _into our ranks, so long as they met the qualifications and were willing to do abide by the Code."

"What were these qualifications, and weren't you were a part of the Black Order at the time? How could you have been a part of this organization, without us knowing it? Furthermore, what was this organization and what is this Code?" Komui inquired.

Noise smiled, "the qualifications are simple: you must have the Sight and you must be able to see the _plates. _ As for my being a part of the Black Order, I was a member of both until I was attacked and I lost my sight. If weren't for my Innocence I wouldn't have been able to remain an Exorcist. Unfortunately, while I was able to remain an Exorcist I could no longer be a part of the organization. "

"What about the Code? What was this organization called?" Lavi asked, before Komui could.

"Unfortunately I can't tell you, nor can I reveal what we called ourselves, to do so would put you in too much danger." Noise replied.

"I'm Bookman's heir, you can tell me!" Lavi demanded slamming his hand on the table.

"Hey guys," Allen interrupted.

Everyone turned to look at him.

"Where's Kanda?"

**Elsewhere in Team Headquarters**

"So an exorcist escaped?" Urahara asked the room full of Monitors.

"Yes sir, the exorcist Kanda Yuu is neither in Headquarters nor the surrounding area. Shall we set up a search party to locate him?" a Monitor asked.

"No."

" but Sir what if he manages to warn the Black Order?"

Urahara sighed, _ I hope this doesn't come back to haunt me, "_your Captain, before his Konso, left something to do with that Exorcist's past, he has most likely gone to pursue that past. Even if he managed to warn the Black Order, it wouldn't matter. They don't have as many or as strong fighters as we do."

"Right…um, sir? Taking in Monitor Captain Yutaka's…mental stability, wouldn't a search party be wise?" the Monitor of Tokyo asked. Yutaka could be rather unpredictable, and the plans for his enemies could be rather…scary.

"Oh don't worry; I'm sure he'll be fine! After all Yutaka wouldn't leave anything that would harm him…much" Urahara said waving it off. If real life were an anime everyone would have sweat dropped or fallen over.

"Moving on, has the Black Order been located?" Urahara asked.

The Monitor of London came forward, "we looked for locations that created the same disturbances n our equipment as the base in Nevada did and came up with two locations: London and the Bermuda Triangle." The Monitor nodded to the one for the Bermuda Triangle, who took over.

"The energy causing the disturbance within the Bermuda Triangle is darker than that of the one of London, I believe that the Black Order can be found there. I believe that the darker energy is that of the Black Order's enemy."

"Noted, thank you Alex, Roger," Yuki said nodding to the two Monitors, "Kurosaki Ichigo will be leading a team to the Black Order Headquarters tomorrow, arriving via Senkaimon, he has already departed to Soul Society."

Turning, he and Urahara left.

**Train, Somewhere in Japan**

Kanda Yuu was staring out the window looking at nothing in particular, lost in thought.

The folder Urahara had given him was lying safely in his bag, along with his Exorcist Uniform.

Mugen had been shattered _again _and was in a small bag, until it could be repaired…again.

Until it could be repaired, Kanda was practically defenseless if an Akuma decided to attack him. Oddly enough it wasn't the Akumas that he was anxious about.

No! He was not scared of returning to his supposed home.

He was… curious. How did Rai know about his past? And if he did, why hadn't Rai mentioned anything before hand? Rai had known him for years, he could have told him then…unless it was just before he lost his mind that he found out and didn't have the clarity to tell him until his deathbed. That was a rather depressing thought.

Taking the note that had been in the folder out of his pocket, Kanda studied the words written there, though he had almost memorized them.

'_Yuu, _

_You're probably wondering why there is only a map and this note in the folder, when I said that it was everything I found on your parents and past. There is a reason, just as there is a reason as to why I went insane, but I digress. _

_The map has the directions to your house and the graveyard where your family is buried. The answers you are looking for are there._

_The things I know, the things I left behind, for you to find. They can all be found at the house—your house._

_I can guarantee that your search will end there._

_-your insane friend, Yutaka Rai'_

Kanda had read that note shortly after the battle. When he saw the other Exorcists being captured, he needed to make a choice.

Fight now and risk being captured and unable to escape, or run—find out his past and break them out later?

Normally he would have stood and fought but he had seen the power of the Team members—he couldn't beat them, especially with Mugen out of commission. The fact that he might find some answers was an added bonus.

'_So here I am on a train going who knows where, while my frie-allies are being held hostage. Those Team members really need to learn to keep their voices down, I was able to overhear everything_! Then again if they hadn't been speaking so loud, I wouldn't have known that they were taken us into custody…a_nd oh god, Rai is affecting me from beyond the grave dammit! Stop going off on tangents!'_

Kanda took a deep breath, he had been traveling for nearly three hours; he could survive a few more, so long as no one really pissed him off.

'_**Fat chance of that'**_

Kanda tensed, '_who are you?'_

'_**You really don't know? Huh let's just say that I'm your resident nut job! Hey what are you— OW!' **_ A voce from his mind said.

'_**Ignore him he's an idiot,' **_came a different voice, it was deep.

'_**You hit me!'**_ the other voice was back.

Kanda's eye twitched slightly, and now he was going insane.

'_**You are not insane; we are a part of you. I have been with you since you were very young though you have no recollection of that time. You may call me…."**_

Kanda's eyes narrowed the voice had faded just as he was about to tell him his name!

'_**It appears you are still not ready, until such a time when you are, we will leave.'**_

'_Wait who are you?' _

They were gone, whoever they were.

Kanda leaned back in his seat, pushing the fact that he had just had an entire conversation, with two voices in his head.

When was this stupid train ride going to be over?

**New York, North America**

Arisawa Tatsuki was annoyed.

She had less than twenty-four hours to get to London to save Orihime and now she had extra _baggage._

A hollow just had to attack a teenager, who had rather high spirit energy on her watch. Tatsuki couldn't just leave him, he would be dead rather quickly by the looks of it.

The teen was probably around seventeen to eighteen, with light brown hair and green eyes. It looked like he had some Asian blood in him. He also seemed to be a complete wuss.

The kid was sniffling for pity's sake! He had to be at least seventeen and he was _sniffling_!

"Oy, kid what's your name?" she asked the sniffling teen.

He looked up at her with watery eyes, "T-Tamaki, Kenji Tamaki."

**Unknown Location**

He was really bored.

He had spent years in this place, where ever here _is_.

He had watched his son grow up from afar, wept when his brother had died and angered when that _thing_ had tried to kill his son.

There had even been a few instances where he had been able to assert a small part of his power through his son to help out.

Not much but it was something.

Hopefully his colleagues would be able to defeat a man that had thousands of years of experience. Hopefully they would be able to defeat enemies that were responsible for the deaths of their comrades.

Hopefully they would be able to weather the coming storm.

For there is a storm coming.

The prophecy given centuries ago, left behind to warn future generations, was drawing closer to completion.

The game is set, the pieces in place.

Now all Neah could do was wait, and pray.

**Soul Society, Fourth Division**

_A city built on the water._

_It was a beautiful place, with intricately carved bricks that made up the buildings, trees lined the streets, children laughed as they played in the streets._

_It was nice._

_It was peaceful._

_Then the scene changed._

_A man stood in the air, laughing maniacally._

_Screams filled the streets as the people ran from the man._

_A ball of energy was forming in the air in front of the man as he held out his hand, feeding his energy into it._

_It was getting smaller and smaller, until it was smaller than his finge rand was repeatedly flashing ._

_The energy ball suddenly expanded instantaneously and shot forward from the man's finger with blinding speed._

_It swallowed the entire city, completely annihilating everything in it._

_Water rushed into the gap left behind by the island city._

_The destruction of the world's spiritual center upset the balance of nature._

_Around the world volcanoes erupted, tsunamis and tidal waves ravaged the coasts and the earth shook from its very foundations._

_The man, who had destroyed nearly a thousand people in a few minutes, grinned maliciously as he held a small key in his hand._

_The man disappeared._

_The ash from the volcanoes left dark clouds in the sky, blocking out the light of the sun._

_The world was dark for days._

_Three days…_

…_.wait, why does that sound familiar?_

_Have you ever had a feeling in your gut when you just realize something terrible, and wish you had continued to live on in ignorance?_

_Well that's what I'm feeling right now. _

_It's not pleasant. _

_I knew I was dreaming, but it felt a little too real to be a dream._

_I was looking at the past, seeing events that had already transpired. Kinda like how I could see things before they happened except now it's in reverse._

_The three days of darkness, how could I forget? It was one of the first things they told be back at the Asia branch of the Order. _

_I was watching the __**original**__ three days of darkness. The days where the Earl fought against the original users of Innocence and was defeated by them. So where were they? Where were the Earl and the Innocence users?_

_In a flash of light they appeared._

_I was expecting people using some of the odd looking Innocence that I had seen. I was expecting normal people. _

_The guards of the king, the Royal Guard, were the ones who stood facing the man._

_I want to know where the Earl is, maybe there's something I can learn from watching his battle, a weakness or something—_

_I froze, my blood running cold._

_I had caught a glimpse of the man's face. A wide, jaw breaking grin was stretched across his face, the face that gave me nightmares for weeks, after I had seen it for the first time._

_The face of the Millennium Earl._

_Suddenly everything clicked._

_The reason the man destroyed the city was to create a simple key. _

_The key that wasn't a __**simple, insignificant **__thing._

_A man had almost succeeded in making a second one._

_The key that required the spiritual center of the world to be destroyed, I'm an idiot for not realizing it at the beginning of this glimpse into the past._

_The Millennium Earl was the one to create the original one._

_The King's Key._

_

* * *

_

An: hello all, wow it's been nearly a month since my last update, sorry 'bout that. I have crossed the dangerous land of Procrastination, and fought against the dreaded homework to bring you this chapter.

This is actually the first time I have hit nine pages. I'm really happy about that.

If you have any questions, comments, mistakes you noticed I made please review!

I look at the reviews more than I do my inbox, I will notice the reviews faster.

Thank you for reading; hopefully I will have the next chapter written in the next month, if not then the month after.


	15. Shadows of the Past

**Chapter 14: Shadows of the Past**

**Somewhere in Japan**

Kanda stared at the wall that enclosed a large estate.

He glanced at the map Rai had left behind.

He glanced back up at the wall and shrugged, _'this is the place'._

He placed his hand on the door intending to open it. For a split second, his hand glowed and the lock clicked. The door opened easily.

Kanda raised an eyebrow and walked inside.

The place was in ruins. It looked like something had come and used it as a punching bag. Rubble lay around the courtyard and there was a gaping hole in the roof of the house.

On the door an envelope was pinned to the door by a dagger.

Kanda walked up to the door and grabbed the envelope; opening it he found a letter.

_Ah good you decided to come! I wondered if writing this letter was a waste of my time, thank god it wasn't! _

_Moving on, you're probably wondering why this place is in ruins. No it's not because this place hasn't been lived in for years. No, did you see the hole in the roof? Go to the room the hole is over. _

_Unfortunately I only returned here a few times, to compile everything for you. There might still be…remains from the night that changed both our lives._

_Kanda, a word of warning, the past that has been entombed here isn't a pleasant one. Once you start there is no going back. You will enter a world where nightmares that are scarier than Akuma live._

_If you are willing to face that risk, then go to the room under the hole in the roof. Another letter awaits you there._

Kanda folded the letter up and put it in his pocket. He opened the door and stepped inside. He walked through the house until he reached the kitchen and dining room. He froze as a sinking feeling filled his stomach.

It was early in the morning, so the light that came through the hall revealed the old blood splatters on the wall. Giant gashes were scattered around the room. The faded chalk outlines of four bodies were still visible where the rain and wind couldn't reach.

Kanda surveyed the room, rain had managed to clear away much of the old blood it was only in the places farthest from the hole that had. On the counter, safe from the weather, lay another envelope.

He opened it.

_So you've decided to pursue your past, very well. First, you're probably wondering what happened to this place. _

_This is the place where my parents died fighting side by side with yours. They protected us to the very end. The gashes on the walls? Those were made by a hollow (similar to an Akuma), a rather powerful one. You've seen level twos before, this hollow was probably around what a level four or five Akuma would be. _

_But I digress; I suppose I should tell you why I brought you here specifically when I could have just left everything behind for you in one central place. _

_You must think I'm rather odd, speaking as if I plan on dying. I 'm going to be trying something in a few days, something no one has done before. I don't know what will happen. This is my backup plan if I can't tell you in person._

_Our parents were Shinigami, Soul Reapers. _

Kanda's eyes widened, he skipped the part explaining what a Shinigami was. It had been explained to the exorcists during their short stay at Team Headquarters.

_I left some training equipment behind for you, go outside to the back and you'll find them. Feel free to look around._

_Good luck._

_-Yutaka Rai_

Kanda put the letter down.

He went toward the back of the house.

He walked outside; there was a wide open yard with a humanoid metal _thing_ in the center. It had the form of a human. It was painted entirely black with gold lining. A faint blue glow emanated from it.

The head suddenly whipped up glowing blue eyes locking on to Kanda.

"Identification please." It said in a metallic voice.

Kanda blinked and regarded it coolly.

"Identification please." It repeated.

"Kanda Yuu."

It cocked its head to the side, "Kanda Yuu?"

Kanda nodded.

"I see, Master Yutaka left me specific instructions to help you bring out your Shinigami abilities, do wish to start now?"

Kanda nodded, "yes"

It flexed its right hand. A glowing skull surrounded by blue fire appeared on the back of its hand.

Its palm slammed into Kanda. Kanda fell backward and crashed to the ground, in front of him his body crumpled to the ground. A chain stretched from his body to his chest. Rai had mentioned something about this in his letter. He was in spirit form.

The machine beeped, "I am called REF_,_ please don't die."

The machine suddenly launched itself in the air, speeding toward Kanda, right fist cocked. Kanda ducked just in time, narrowly missing the punch REF had aimed at his head. Kanda stood up and pivoted to face REF, but he was forced to dodge again as REF launched a flying kick at him.

Kanda slipped the bag off his body and held it by the straps. REF was fast, insanely fast.

REF hopped from one foot to another. It leaped forward once again executing a right hook. Kanda turned to the left, swinging his bag as hard as he could into REF's head as he completed the turn.

REF stumbled. It stood up and cocked its head to the side once again.

"You hit me."

Kanda nodded.

"Congratulations you have passed the first test. Now we will begin the second stage."

Powerful ropes wrapped themselves around Kanda binding his hands and legs together. He fell to the ground, unable to stand due to the bindings.

"What the hell are you doing!" He yelled at REF.

REF stood over the chain that connected Kanda to his body, "this is the second stage of your training. You must access your Shinigami abilities before you become a hollow. You have twenty four hours."

REF crushed the chain with his foot, leaving only a foot and a half of chain still connected to Kanda.

"When the chain reaches the plate, you will become a hollow and I will kill you"

**Team Headquarters, Karakura**

There was a flurry of activity throughout Headquarters as the Team prepared for the assault upon the Black Order.

Squads were being formed so that in the event that the assault went south, backup could be sent to reinforce them.

The Monitors were coordinating with the Twelfth Division and the doctors with the Fourth Division.

The Exorcists were still locked in their room, unable to aid or warn their friends in London.

"Damn it!" Lavi yelled for the fourth time this hour, "Where the hell is Yuu!"

"Not here?" Allen said from his seat on the couch.

"You know what I mean!" Lavi shouted at Allen for his comment.

"Sorry couldn't resist" Allen said, his hands in front of him in a peaceful gesture.

Lavi sighed, and resumed the pacing that he had stopped nearly an hour before.

Allen sighed also, and slumped forward clasping his hands while his arms rested on his knees._ 'I wish there was something I could do, the Black Order's going to be attacked and we're stuck here, Kanda's missing and I can't do anything! Add to that the fact that I have a headache._

A bright flash seemed to erupt from behind his eyelids.

_A young man holding a baby was running through alleyways._

_The same man stood before the Millennium Earl._

_Kanda lay in a clearing, bound and screaming in pain as a chain attached to his chest devoured itself. A humanoid robot with a skull like face stood watching._

_A boy with snow-white hair and hard blue eyes was speaking to the young man that held the both bore the same symbol—a zero._

Allen's eyes snapped open, _what was that?_

**Fourth Division, Soul Society**

_The Royal Guard was battling the Earl while I watched, absorbing as much as I could._

_Though they were fighting as the cube thing has said, yet the Innocence hasn't appeared._

_I suppose I should describe the Royal Guard?_

_They're wearing what seem to be togas. Two of them, a girl and boy who looked like they were siblings, were firing similar looking bows. A silver and golden bow respectively. A man with a long beard, who resembled the girl and boy, was throwing what seemed to be lightning bolts._

_Another man was controlling the waves. A woman was directing the others. Another man was controlling what looked to be skeletons. _

_The girl with the silver bow shouted something about "stupid male" to her opponent._

_The spite in her voice when she said male set me on edge._

'_**Yes Artemis always had her opinions.'**_

_If I were conscious I would have jumped, as the male voice was speaking to __**me**__._

'_**Calm yourself young one. I am not your enemy. I am here merely to direct you. It is imperative that you watch this to the end.'**_

_I nodded, filing away mentally that I should really seek help if voices were speaking to me, and turned my attention back to the battle. It wasn't going too well for the Royal Guards. Come to think of it, how had I known that they were the Guard? It wasn't as if they were wearing any identification. A bright sign would have been appreciated._

'_**Focus! I supplied the information to you, to allow better comprehension. Now focus on the matter at hand!'**_

_The Earl had pushed back the Guard. His minions were pinning most of them down. The Guards were struggling against them, though it was futile. The minions were Vasto Lordes, their strength was legendary._

_Then it changed._

_From the darkness a bright light came. A man in a cloak appeared caring a large sword. Power rolled off him in waves. I tried to see his face, but the cloak covered it with shadows too well._

_The man's sudden appearance was enough to startle the Vasto Lordes and allow the Guards to escape. They formed a circle around the man, shielding him from the Earl._

_The man raised his hand and a glow surrounded the Guard. The Vasto Lordes lunged toward them. The Guard disappeared._

_The scene dissolved, leaving me in darkness._

_A flame was lit in front of me. _

_It was a candle, placed on a table. The Guards, battle-stained and weary, were seated around it. The cloaked man was pacing, muttering curses under his breath._

"_I told you to wait for orders Zeus!" the cloaked man shouted at lightning bolt guy._

_Wait Zeus, as in Zeus god of lightning, from Greek mythology?_

'_**The one and only. Did you think they were just stories? No, the Olympians existed and were the Royal Guards who were able to defeat the Millennium Earl before he was even called that. He has changed names many times over the centuries. In this time he goes by the name of Kronos.'**_

_I digested that little bit of information as I watched the cloaked man rip the mighty Zeus a new one._

_Once Zeus had been thoroughly chastised, the cloaked man turned to face the Guards._

"_Kronos and his allies will use the turmoil caused by the destruction of Atlantis to destroy everything. We cannot allow them to win."_

"_But my lord, how can we hope to defeat them? They have already created a key of their own; it is only a matter of time until they come here." Athena said._

_The cloaked man sighed and rubbed his eyes. "I do not know."_

_Apollo eyes seemed to glaze over; he remained that way for a few minutes and then snapped back to reality. _

"_I have seen what will transpire, though if we should do this, one of our own shall perish." Apollo said looking at the cloaked man sadly. The meaning behind his gaze was obvious; the cloaked man would not survive the plan._

_The cloaked man nodded," speak Apollo I am prepared, tell us what you have foreseen."_

_Apollo took a deep breath and began, "we will meet Kronos and his forces, and you my lord will be the one to destroy the other key."_

"_And how will I go about destroying the key?"_

"_I do not know, all I know is that you will succeed."_

"_Then what use is your foresight if you cannot tell us how to defeat Kronos?" Ares roared._

"_Foresight can only show so much! The future is constantly shifting! All I know is that we will succeed in most of the possibilities!" Apollo shouted back._

"_And how do you know this? Hades asked," how do we know that you aren't lying? Though I am loath to admit it, you have the strongest gift of foresight within the group, so we wouldn't know if you were lying even if we wanted to."_

_Apollo glared at Hades and then shifted his gaze to look over Athena's shoulder. Straight. At. Me._

"_Because in the future a boy will dream off our time, just as he is doing now. He will face Kronos again and his allies may defeat him. What we must do is give them that chance, we cannot fail. I ask you to trust me, Hades for in order to defeat Kronos we must stand united THAT I know will factor in to the defeat of Kronos. For our observer will fight alongside the Destroyer of Time."_

_Hades nodded grudgingly. _

_Athena stood, "then here is what we shall do…."_

_The scene faded once more._

**London**

Malcolm C. Leverier was upset.

He had just finished interrogating his…guests.

The red-haired girl absolutely refused to show him her power of rejection.

If Leverier had any semblance of a sense of humor, he might have smiled at the irony of that statement.

Instead he stormed around the London Headquarters, fuming.

The other four seemed to want to protect the girl, going so far as to threaten Leverier with bodily harm.

Like they would ever get the chance.

The blue haired one and the large tanned man seemed to be the most dangerous, while the one with glasses and the black haired and green eyed one seemed to be the weakest of the group.

The green-eyed man bore little resemblance to the girl though she called him 'brother'.

Maybe separating them would convince the girl to use her abilities.

'_Yes that seems to be an appropriate course of action; perhaps I will be able to get the others to show me their abilities as well.'_

Leverier smiled at his established course of action.

And the earth shook.

**Somewhere in Japan**

Pain.

Sharp pain.

His chain was devouring itself, causing excruciating pain.

It had been about five hours. Spilt between the chain eating itself and the chain's dormancy.

During the dormant time Kanda would struggle to escape his bindings. Unfortunately the bindings couldn't be broken by strength alone.

They had to be broken by spirit energy. Something Kanda had no recollection of ever using.

Spirit energy…Shinigami use spirit energy….Zanpakutou….a manifestation of the soul…..that resides in the mind….!

Kanda's eyes closed as inspiration struck him. He tried to figure out how to access his Zanpakutou, but how would he do that?

"So you have figured out" the deep voice said.

Kanda's eyes snapped open. He was no longer tied up and his surroundings had changed. He was in a dojo; through the open door he could see other traditional Japanese homes.

In front of him stood a samurai in full armor, a mask covering his face, his eyes were the only part showing.

"You have figured out that a Zanpakutou spirit resides in the mind of its user, this is good," the samurai stated.

Kanda looked at him, "are you my Zanpakutou then?"

The samurai inclined his head, "I have been waiting a long time, many years ago you knew my name but you have forgotten it. In order to prove yourself worthy of using my power you must find you sword."

Swords of varying size and shape appeared around Kanda.

"Only one of these swords is real, that sword represents your ability. Find it and you will regain the power you once had, along with your memories!"

The samurai disappeared into a veil of mist.

Kanda looked around, at a loss. How was he supposed to figure out which sword was his? If he picked up every sword he would be stuck in here for a very long time. There were at least a hundred swords surrounding him. So which one was his? And if he was in his mind for a prolonged period of time, how much time would pass in the real world?

He was getting a headache just thinking about it.

And for some reason he kept imagining the chokuto he had used for a number of years before it got destroyed during the battle for Noah's Ark.

Looking around the room again, Kanda spotted an exact replica of the sword. When he picked it up, a jolt of energy traveled up his arm and the other swords disappeared in poofs of smoke.

In their place stood the samurai, "very good" he said.

"The sword you hold is the released form of my power. You will need it to release your memories.'

Startled Kanda asked, "What do you mean by 'release my memories'?"

The samurai walked over to the right corner of the room where a rug covered the floor. He pulled the rug up revealing a trap door, which he opened.

"Nine years ago, the Black Order created you or that is what you were told. When you got the letter from Rai, you assumed that your 'parents' were merely members of the Second Exorcist Project and not that they were your _birth_ parents. The truth is, you have a past that was _erased_ by the order so the fusion could go more smoothly."

"What fusion?"

The samurai sighed, "The fusion of a deceased exorcist and a living body. In essence it gave the exorcist a second chance at life. Hence the **Second** Exorcist Project. But you need to see it with your own eyes, go down the trap door, and discover the truth yourself!"

Once again the samurai began to fade into the mist.

"Wait!" Kanda yelled, but it was no use, the samurai had faded again.

Kanda approached the trap door. He climbed down the ladder. At the bottom was a dark room cloaked in mist.

The mist was coming through an iron gate with a giant padlock and chains preventing it from opening.

On the other side of the gate Kanda could see a small figure approaching him. The mist surrounded the figure, a child. When the child passed the gate Kanda froze.

It was him as a child, covered in blood. The child continued past the gate. In the mist Kanda could see other figures, though none as vivid or clear as the child.

Kanda touched the padlock, attempting to rip it off so he could pass through the gate. His body erupted into pain and he released the padlock with a gasp. The pain faded instantaneously. Apparently something didn't want to enter the room.

Steeling himself, Kanda raised the sword he still held in his hand and cut the padlocked with one swing of his sword.

Kanda woke up on the floor. Phantom pains made it difficult to get to his feet. Once he did he faced the gate once again.

The padlock lay in pieces on the floor. Kanda placed his sword in his belt and pushed against the gate. Once again pain engulfed him. Gritting his teeth, Kanda forced the heavy gate open and nearly fell forward as the pain faded slowly.

He was in a room that was eerily similar to the one where he was 'born'. The mist that covered the room came from the pools scattered about the room.

A control panel lay in the center of the room connected to a safe. Kanda knelt by it and typed in **Second Exorcist** on a whim. The panel beeped and the safe opened. Inside the safe was an exorcist uniform. Kanda took the uniform out of the safe.

The room faded.

_He was three; his parents were visiting a friend of theirs. The man they were talking to knelt down to Kanda's level, "hey there little one, I'm Neah Walker, what's your name?" he asked._

_He was nine. He and Rai were hiding as sounds of battle and the roar of hollows reverberated around them. He hid himself and Rai unconsciously, when the Vasto Lorde that had killed his parents looked straight at them._

_He was in the orphanage, sobbing. He could hear voices coming through the closed door. His ankles were wrapped in bandages from the shunpo he had been practicing a few days earlier._

"_He is fairly intelligent. And aside from the mysterious wounds on his ankles he's in perfect health." One man said._

"_We'll take him then." The other said._

_A younger looking Leverier walked into the room and grabbed his hand, dragging him away kicking and screaming. He could hear Rai call out his name._

_He was at the orphanage again, this time as an exorcist. The Akuma he was fighting suddenly got hit in the head by a rock. It turned to the one who had thrown it, Rai._

_At the moment of distraction he was able to kill it with his sword._

_Rai joined the Order after that. _

_Or some reason he kept trying to get Kanda to be his friend. But Kanda kept avoiding him; Rai could be rather annoying at times._

_Eventually Rai did earn Kanda's friendship. They were a team the three of them, Lenalee, Rai and him._

_Then Rai had a complete mental breakdown._

_Kanda was in his teens, walking through the Black Order Headquarters. _

_Suddenly he heard screaming, it was coming from Rai's room._

_He ran and busted open the locked door._

_Rai lay on the ground clutching his head screaming. A mirror lay shattered on the floor nearby._

_Rai never was the same after that._

_Before the breakdown Rai had been semi-serious but could bring smiles to others faces, even Kanda's. He had been someone who you could count on to watch your back in battle. Even if he was unpredictable. But now his unpredictability was a double edged sword. One one hand he could surprise his enemies but on the other he would hallucinate while fighting, randomly cackle or scream. More than once he had to be restrained lest he hurt others or himself._

_He died a few years later._

_He had been sent to Karakura Town, Japan with only a single finder who was killed by an Akuma while en route to Japan. _

_A man named Urahara Kisuke had called the Black Order and reported Rai's death. The body arrived a few days later to be cremated._

_Lenalee had been a wreck. _

_The Science Division, who had all been rather close to Rai, was in a state of grief for weeks._

_He would snap at anyone who tried to talk to him, more so than usual._

Kanda's eyes snapped opened and the exorcist uniform fell from his limp hands.

His head pounded from the information that had just been jammed into it.

"So you now you remember, what will you do now?" asked a feminine voice.

Kanda turned to face the woman whom he had sworn to find.

"You, you're!"

The woman smiled and her form shifted into that of the samurai.

"What will you do now that you have regained your memories?" the samurai asked.

Kanda took his sword and stabbed the uniform. It disappeared. Kanda bent down to change the code for the safe.

"I'm going to get my…allies back from the Shinigami and possibly track down Rai."

The samurai nodded, "then it is time for you to return to your training."

REF who had been sitting a few feet away from Kanda watched in mild interest as Kanda went very still.

REF returned to watching the clouds. Had REF been paying attention it would have noticed the initial pulse of energy. As it was REF was **not** paying attention and so was caught by surprise by the energy that Kanda pushed out, snapping the ropes that bound him.

Stumbling to its feet REF said, "Not bad, you found your Shinigami power, now we can move on to test number three! Learning to use it!"

REF jumped forward, left fist poised to punch Kanda in the face. It would have worked, had Kanda not disappeared the instant REF's blow was about to hit.

Surprised REF gasped "shunpo!" before its face met the ground, courtesy of Kanda's foot.

Pushing itself up REF observed Kanda. The sensors that were built into its head told REF that Kanda's reiatsu was currently sky rocketing. Most likely due to the fact that Kanda hadn't used much of his energy in the past few years.

Kanda raised his hand and a katana materialized in it.

REF cocked its head to the side and said "not bad, but do you know how to use that sword as a Zanpakutou?"

Pushing its reiatsu into the circuits made for this purpose, REF propelled itself into the air at a blinding speed. Its leg connected with Kanda's sword and nearly snapped the blade in half.

REF landed and shook its head, "I almost cracked that blade. You're resolve isn't good enough, if you want to truly use that blade right, you need to have an iron clad resolve!"

"I know."

REF cocked its head to the side startled.

"I just needed to find it." Kanda said.

He held his blade in front of him, parallel to the ground. As he ran two fingers down the blade he said calmly:

"Spread discord among my enemies …!"

* * *

**An: **hello all! Here is chapter 14 in all its craziness!

Once again this chapter has not been Betaed so if you see any mistakes, anything that doesn't make sense or you're just confused about something please **tell me!** If you have any questions feel free to ask me.

Please review—reviews will be used to power REF's batteries, it'll need it.


	16. Announcement update

**Announcement:**

I have decided to completely rewrite second chance, my apologies to any who wished for me to continue this particular plot but I literally did not know where I was going with the fic. I am currently writing the first act (or arc) of the rewrite. I will not be posting the fic until I finish writing the arcs (or if I change my mind, more frequently). Again I express my apologies for simply stopping second chance, but let it be known that I AM WORKING ON THE REWRITE.


End file.
